PAME salutes the general strike on December 11, called by the General Confederation of Workers of Portugal (CGTP-IN), in response to the anti-people and anti-worker bill promoted by the government of the country. The bill further facilitates dismissals “for just cause,” loosens restrictions on subcontracting, and introduces new tools for intensifying exploitation, such as “individual working-time banks,” which allow overtime to increase by up to 2 hours per day and 150 hours per year, paving the way for even more flexible and exhausting work schedules.

The attack on workers’ rights, on collective agreements, on wages, and on working time is not a Portuguese phenomenon. The same scenario is unfolding throughout the EU. A joint offensive is underway against the working class in the name of competitiveness and the profitability of capital, within the framework of the war economy and the EU’s permanent memoranda, implemented by all governments, whether they call themselves center-right, social-democratic, or “progressive.”

In this attack, governments are not alone. Their partners are the employer-aligned and government-aligned trade union bureaucracies, such as the ETUC in Europe and the compromised GSEE in Greece, which went so far as to sign, at the request of the government and the employers, the shameful agreement on Collective Agreements, celebrating as “progress” the complete surrender of Collective Bargaining to the needs dictated by business profits.

In Greece, the massive strikes of October 1 and 14 against the 13-hour workday showed that the anti-worker offensive can be halted and that the path can be opened for Collective Agreements with wage increases and for the 7-hour day – 5-day week – 35-hour week. The farmers’ mobilizations and the roadblocks now being set up again across the country show that the united struggle of workers and farmers can become a decisive force for overturning anti-people policies.

For the working class, there is no other road than organization in the unions and struggle. This is demonstrated by the major strike battles across Europ, in Italy, France, Greece, and elsewhere, against 13-hour workdays, against the commercialization of Health and Education, against poverty, against war and the genocide of the Palestinian people by the murderous Israeli state, and against the authoritarianism and war economy being built by EU governments on behalf of the business groups.

PAME and the trade unions of Greece stand firmly by the side of the workers of Portugal and wish every success for the December 11 strike, so that it becomes yet another milestone in the struggle against the anti-people offensive of governments, the EU, and the monopolies.