MADRID, 18 March (EUROPA PRESS) –
More than 100,000 people demonstrated in Libya this Saturday to demand an overall increase in wages and pensions called for by the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers-National Inter-Trade Union (CGTP-IN).
According to the news of the ‘Diário de Notícias’ newspaper, the general secretary of the formation, Isabel Camarinha, assured that they will not stop the mobilizations until salaries and pensions are increased.
Emphasizing that “building a new time” requires “intensifying the struggle”, Camarinha said, “This struggle will not stop unless our demands and raises in wages and pensions are guaranteed.”
He therefore demanded “answers and solutions” from the Socialist Party government, saying that “the problems, needs and demands of the workers cannot be put on hold”.
Therefore, he criticized the Government for hiding behind “price compensation work” and doing nothing to mitigate the rise in the cost of living. “Looks like we are stupid and they will prepare a nice work confirming that everything is going well (…). It is the new version of ‘the homeland is based more on austerity’, which we have already defeated. And we will return in defeat,” he stressed.
He denounced the “lack of response”, particularly in the areas of health, education, social protection or housing. “We demand a general increase in wages, a real increase that surpasses inflation, that recovers and strengthens our purchasing power, that enables us to live.”
Specifically, they demand an increase of at least 10 percent and at least 100 euros for all workers, and an increase in the inter-professional minimum wage to 850 euros. There were calls for mobilization for April 25 and May 1, as well as new protests for 28 March in Lisbon and Porto.
Source: Noti Merica
