Portugal’s largest trade union confederation, the CGTP, has criticised the country’s growing economic dependence on tourism, warning that Portugal has lost much of its national productive capacity.
Tiago Oliveira, secretary-general of the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP), said the country “cannot base its economy on hospitality and tourism”, arguing instead for a development model centred on higher value-added production.
He was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a public forum marking World Social Security Day. According to Oliveira, the Portuguese economy remains “anchored in low value-added products”, limiting the country’s ability to compete with imports.
“We can try to sell as many croissants and pastéis de nata as we like, but none of that will compete with what we have to buy from abroad, because we gave up our national production,” he said.
The union leader also pointed to the railway sector as an example of structural dependency, criticising Portugal’s reliance on purchasing trains from foreign manufacturers.
“We now need to buy another 100 trains. Where will we buy them? From Spain, from France, from Switzerland,” he asked.
Oliveira recalled that Portugal once had “a major national train manufacturing company”, using the example to underline what he sees as decades of industrial decline.
“How many pastéis de nata will we have to sell to buy a train from Switzerland, Spain or France?” he added.
The CGTP secretary-general attributed productivity problems to long-standing public policy choices.
“The issue of productivity lies here, in the political decisions that have been made over all these years,” he argued.
Oliveira also stressed the need to value workers and create conditions allowing them “to build a prosperous life in their own country”.
Turning to the labour reform package currently under discussion, he said workers broadly reject the proposals and warned that political parties “will have to be held accountable” according to how they vote in parliament.
“Either they stand with a government that has responded to employers’ interests, or they stand with the majority. And the majority are workers,” he said.
On taxation, Oliveira maintained that workers do not object to paying taxes, provided the revenue is used “to improve public services” and respond to the population’s needs.
Source: LUSA
