Society News

Portugal's second general strike in six months halts trains and grounds most TAP flights

Portugal's largest union confederation, the CGTP, held a 24-hour general strike on Wednesday, June 3, against the centre-right government's plan to overhaul labour laws. It was the second general strike in six months, after a December stoppage that was the first since the 2013 austerity protests.

Tuoi Tre News, carrying Reuters, said state rail operator CP suspended long-distance and most regional trains, Lisbon's metro shut, schools closed and hospitals postponed most surgeries. TAP planned only 79 of its usual 300-plus daily flights, and Iberia expected cuts of 50% to 75%. Prime Minister Luís Montenegro's minority government is likely to pass the bill, which changes more than 100 articles of the labour code, with support from the far-right Chega party.

Young workers would be “stuck on precarious contracts for life.” — Rodrigo Azevedo, bank employee, via Reuters

Argentina-based Infobae, in its Spain edition, listed the reform's main points: easier dismissals, wider use of temporary contracts, an individual hours bank allowing up to 50-hour weeks, and new conditions on breastfeeding leave. It quoted the Fnstfps union saying 95–100% of night-shift hospital staff joined. Euronews published a guide naming the striking nurses', doctors', teachers' and transport unions, and said unions called the reform an “assault on workers' rights.”

How each outlet framed it

• Tuoi Tre News — the scale of disruption and the parliamentary maths with Chega.
• Infobae — what “Trabalho XXI” actually changes, from working hours to parental rights.
• Euronews — a practical guide to which services stop and who is striking.

What we don't know yet: when parliament will vote; Euronews said no date had been set for the debate.