The general secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) accused this Sunday, December 7, the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, of being in a “kind of auction” over the minimum and average wage values, days before the general strike called by CGTP and UGT.
According to José Luís Carneiro, the behavior of the head of Government, “on the eve of a general strike, it is unworthy”. “Workers do not deserve to have this done to them”, he considered in statements on the sidelines of the session “Mário Soares – the words and images”, at the Pavilhão de Portugal, in Lisbon, on the day that marks 101 years since the birth of the former President of the Republic and Prime Minister.
Guaranteeing that “everyone” aspires for “workers to have better living conditions, José Luís Carneiro recalled that when he announced his “candidacy for leadership of the PS, he said that by 2035 the country should have a growing economy to raise average salaries”. This would mean that “by 2035 the average salary would be 2500 euros”, a value close to the 3 thousand sought by Montenegro.
However, in the opinion of the socialist general secretary, “The terms in which the Prime Minister is presenting these proposals do not dignify the sense of commitment and the honor of the word that must be given to workers. Salary increases are discussed and evaluated in social agreement, depending on the economy, in social agreement”.
One day after announcing, in Parliament, that the approval of new labor laws would be an opportunity to raise minimum and average wages to 1500 or 2000, respectively, Luís Montenegro said this Saturday he wanted to go further. “We don’t want to grow 2% per year, but rather 3%, 3.5%, 4%. We want the minimum wage to not reach 1100 euros. That’s the objective we have for this legislature, but We want more, for it to reach 1500 or 1600 euros“, said the also PSD leader.
Commenting on the changes to the labor code, José Luís Carneiro reiterated the criticisms he has already made.
According to him, the changes accentuate precariousness and fail to criminalize undeclared work, for example. I.e: “These are all opposite signs in relation to what the economy needs. A competitive economy must be capable of being productive through technological innovation and worker wage appreciation. [A lei laboral] It’s the opposite of what the country needs.” Still from José Luís Carneiro’s perspective, this is “a reckoning” with the labor law that was approved two years ago “with the abstention of the PSD” and with the Decent Work Agenda.