Above photo: Demonstrators march during a general strike to protest against a new labour package announced by the right-wing government, in Lisbon, Dec. 11, 2025. AP Photo/Armando Franc.
A rare united general strike has shaken Portugal’s right-wing government.
Placing labour rights, precarity and collective power at the centre of national politics.
On 11 December 2025, a general strike took place, called by all trade union confederations, which brought transport, much of the public services, and the largest companies in Portugal to a standstill – especially in industry, but not only. It was a strong response to a draft bill from the right-wing government, elected in March 2025, which aims to change some of the pillars of labour relations in Portugal. The strike call and its undeniable political success – which the government tried to downplay – changed the terms of the public debate and triggered a repositioning of political actors. Instead of the topics with which the far right has dominated the debate in the last months – immigration, non-existent “burqas”, “gender ideology” – precarity, wages, and the dignity of work have taken centre stage in the media in the last two months. Alongside international tensions – from Trump’s military action in Venezuela to his threats regarding Greenland – labour issues have forcefully entered the presidential campaign, whose first round took place on 18 January and the second on 8 February. On 13 January, a new demonstration called by the main Union Confederation (CGTP), accompanied by the delivery of hundreds of thousands of signatures to Parliament against the government’s labour reform package, helped to keep the mobilisation alive.
The far right, which initially condemned the strike call as being only in the “interest of the far left” and supported the government’s proposal, considering it an attempt to change labour law that in Portugal would be “Soviet” (this was the expression used by the far-right spokesperson about our labour code…), ended up making a complete U-turn the day after the strike, praising it as “absolutely legitimate” and condemning the government’s proposal as “an open bar for dismissals and precariousness”. The government’s proposal appears irreparably damaged in its current form, but it is not dead. The government recently announced in Parliament that it intended to submit the bill even if no agreement was reached in social concertation (the tripartite body bringing together representatives of the government, the two main trade union confederations, and four employers’ confederations). The question remains, however, about which parliamentary majority could approve such a proposal, since it would necessarily require the votes either of the Socialist Party, which has so far openly opposed the proposal in its current form, or of the far right, whose position has fluctuated radically and whose final stance remains uncertain.
Moreover, the recently elected President, António José Seguro, promised during the electoral campaign to refuse to promulgate the government’s bill if the government failed to secure an agreement in social concertation; following Seguro’s victory on 8 February, the Prime Minister has already acknowledged that he hopes Seguro’s reservations regarding the reform might be overcome. In this particular context, the central question seems to be whether the unity of organised labour can be maintained, and whether the left and the unions will have the capacity to regain some political initiative in a hostile context and an unfavourable balance of forces in parliament, and defeat the government’s proposal.
It has been 12 years since Portugal’s last general strike
In the last 50 years, since the beginning of the democratic regime in Portugal, born out of the 1974 revolution, there have been only 11 general strikes. The last one took place in 2013, during the troika intervention period. But very few general strikes have gathered as much support for their call as this one. The December 2025 strike was one of the rare occasions when the two main trade union confederations came together: CGTP (Portugal’s largest trade union confederation, created in the early 1970s, with communist dominance but also including progressive Catholic currents, the socialist trade union current and other left-wing activists) and UGT (a confederation created by members of the Socialist Party and the right, with influence in banking, some industry and certain transport sectors). In fact, this convergence of the two confederations had only happened four times before: in 1988, 2010, 2011 and 2012. But this year, it was more than that. It’s worth noting that the trade union wing of the governing party (PSD, right-wing) unanimously supported the strike call, with all its members voting for it in the UGT leadership. Many dozens of Workers’ Committees from major companies and important independent unions (train drivers, journalists, higher education) also joined the call, as did the Union of Independent Trade Unions (USI), which includes unions that tend to lean right, such as some in banking, who called for the strike and considered the government’s proposal a “civilisational setback” that threatened to dismiss “four million workers”. Immigrant associations (around a quarter of the active population in Portugal are immigrants) and feminist associations also called for the strike. Former general secretaries of the confederations, Catholic trade union activists and prominent labour law jurists also opposed the government’s proposal and urged participation in the strike.
The strike had unprecedented political and trade union strength and was strongly felt in several sectors: 90% of schools, universities and hospitals; shutdown of the Lisbon Metro and almost total stoppage of trains, airports and Porto Metro; stoppage of some shifts, or even production, in major industrial companies (Autoeuropa/Volkswagen; Bosch; Super Bock) and logistics (Sonae). In services, micro-enterprises and more precarious sectors (such as digital platforms), participation was predictably lower. On the day of the strike, demonstrations in major cities were attended by thousands of people, including many young people with a profile very different from that of traditional May Day union demonstrations.
A radical change in labour relations
The government’s proposal, titled “Work XXI”, introduces more than a hundred changes to labour laws, radically undermining the balance of power in the world of work in three main ways.
First, by unbalancing the law itself. The government intends to abolish the right to reinstatement for a worker who was unlawfully dismissed (meaning that as long as the company pays compensation, it can get rid of the worker even when the court rules there was no just cause). It also wants to impose an individual hours bank, allowing employees to work up to two extra hours per day without that time being paid as overtime. And it creates a new basis for fixed-term contracts: as long as a worker has never had a permanent contract, they can always be hired precariously, even for permanent tasks and needs. Collective bargaining mechanisms are also weakened, making arbitration harder and facilitating the expiry of agreements, while further restricting trade unions’ ability to intervene in companies. In the rules on strike, the aim is to extend minimum service requirements.
Second, by pushing workers outside the boundaries of labour law. This applies to digital platforms. Since 2023, the Portuguese Labour Code has included a presumption of employment for platform workers, with more than 800 court cases and several rulings, including from the Supreme Court, in favour of workers (over 80% of appellate court decisions recognised employment contracts for UberEats or Glovo couriers). The government wants to revoke this presumption and effectively prevent these workers from accessing labour law, relegating them to the status of self-employed or sole proprietors.
Thirdly, by reinforcing undeclared work and impunity for breaking the law. One measure in this labour package is the decriminalisation of undeclared work. In 2023, this was made a criminal offence, and employers were prevented from registering workers only on their first day of work – a common excuse during inspections (under that rule, they were never punished). The new provision seeks to turn a blind eye and legitimise informal and clandestine work, particularly in agriculture, construction and domestic service, three sectors with a huge volume of immigrant labour (over half of workers) and a significant share of undeclared work.
What’s next?
At this stage of the process, one victory can already be noted: public opinion has been won over regarding the perception of the profoundly regressive and unbalanced nature of the government’s proposal, clearly tilted against workers. At the same time, unanimity within the trade union movement in rejecting this proposal has been maintained.
What steps come next? The CGTP, the largest and most left-wing trade union confederation, has already called for new street protests on 28 February. The UGT (the other union confederation, more centrist) announced that it would submit to the government a set of proposed amendments to labour law, representing the limits of what it would be willing to negotiate. Neither of the two confederations has ruled out the possibility of a second general strike.
The challenge will be to maintain unity among the different organisations and union currents – which will require a lot of work, patience and talent – and to sustain mobilisation and the determination in rejecting the government’s strategy revealed by the strike. At the same time, it will be necessary to find ways to regain the initiative, to project the horizons of those who work beyond mere resistance.
