Isabel Camarinha says ‘the government failed’ and employers ‘took advantage of it’

CGTP general secretary Isabelle Camarinha said today that the “government has failed” to provide the answers workers need and that employers have “taken advantage” of the social cohesion agreement to introduce a wage cap limiting remuneration increases.

The trade unionist spoke at the inaugural speech of the XV Congress, taking place in Torre da Marinha, Seixal, Setubal district, until Saturday, which will mark the resignation of Isabel Camarinha from the leadership of the center due to the age limit.

“The government has failed to provide the necessary answers in the so-called Agenda.” [do Trabalho Digno] by failing to repeal harsh labor laws, and also failed when it refused to impose maximum prices on essential goods and services, supporting profit and speculation,” he told 720 convention delegates and hundreds of guests.

According to the CGTP leader, the government also “failed” when it “abandoned housing measures” to address rising interest rates while “continuing to allow record results for the financial sector while rising house payments.”

Employers “took advantage when, as part of Social Harmony, they signed the Medium-Term Agreement on Increasing Income, Wages and Competitiveness, which in practice sets a wage cap, maintains the validity of collective agreements and does not restore the principle of treatment more favorable.”

The Social Harmonization Agreement, which the CGTP did not sign, “limites the real growth of wages and guarantees significant support and tax breaks for large companies and big capital,” Camarinha added, also criticizing the agreement signed between the executive and the UGT trade union structures. for public service.

Isabel Camarinha said recent years have been marked by the pandemic, political crisis and rising costs of living, as well as “intense struggles of workers in all sectors and throughout the country” who took to the streets in “large national demonstrations or decentralized ones.”

“It is necessary to continue and intensify the fight, because there is an urgent need for a break, for real changes that will allow the country to begin production and growth that will guarantee everyone who wants to live and work here the conditions that are denied today,” Camarinha emphasized, saying that “a general and significant increase in wages is urgent.”

In her speech, the CGTP leader also reiterated her demand for an increase in the national minimum wage of €820 to €1,000 within a year.

“We repeat that this must be this year, and not with the goals and values ​​of the end of the legislature, which not only do not meet the needs felt today, but also represent a commitment to maintaining low wages in Portugal,” he ruled. The XV Congress of the CGTP began this Friday and will last until Saturday in Torre da Marinha, Seixal, and will be marked by the renewal of a quarter of the directors, including Secretary General Isabel Camarinha, who will be replaced in this post by Tiago. Oliveira.

The motto of the main meeting: “With workers, organization, unity and struggle! Guarantees of rights, combat exploitation – confirm April for Portugal with a future.”