By Le Figaro with AFP
Published
This content is not accessible.
Thousands of civil servants and private sector workers from across the country demonstrated in Lisbon on Saturday to demand wage increases and measures to cope with the rising cost of living. “The cost of living becomes unbearable” or “it is unacceptable to become impoverished on the jobchanted the demonstrators marching in the main street of the Portuguese capital. “The situation is getting really tough!“said AFP Inacio Catela, a 61-year-old distribution agent from Torres Vedras, about 60 kilometers north of Lisbon.
«There is an urgent need to revalue our work, our careers and our salaries“A little further along in the procession, explains Raquel Silva, 42, an administrative assistant at a hospital in the center of the country. This demonstration, called for by the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP), comes the day after a national strike by civil servants demanding wage increases, which has affected waste collection, the operation of schools and hospitals.
This content is not accessible.
ALSO READ – Enjoy Lisbon away from the crowds
The CGTP, the main Portuguese trade union federation, is also calling for controls on the prices of essential goods, help to curb the rise in rents and mortgages, as well as measures to combat uncertainty. Inflation in Portugal throughout 2022 reached a historic high of 7.8%, the highest level in 30 years.
«We demand a wage increase, but a real increase, higher than inflation, which makes it possible to restore and strengthen the purchasing power of households“, declared at the end of the parade the Secretary General of the CGTP, Isabel Camarinha, addressing the demonstrators. “We want wage increases of at least 10% and never less than 100 euros for all employees‘ she clarified.