A street demonstration in Faro today, 7 August, organised by the Algarve Trade Union Federation (USAL), called for an end to precarious employment, higher wages, and better living conditions for everyone in the region.
Hundreds took to the streets, as trade unionists, workers from the health service, local government, the canning industry, retail, hospitality, and tourism, precariously employed young people, pensioners and even students gathered outside João de Deus Secondary School in Faro.
Chanting slogans, the demonstrators marched down Avenida 5 de Outubro towards Rua de Santo António, watched by members of the public, some with visible disdain, who came to their doors and windows to take a look.
Many curious tourists approached the demonstration, attempting to work out what it was about.
“In a region where so many people with money come to enjoy luxury holidays, we cannot accept that the workers and people who live here all year round do not have decent working conditions or decent living conditions,” Catarina Marques, a teacher, trade union leader with the Southern Teachers’ Union (SPZS), and current coordinator of USAL, which organised the demonstration, told journalists.
“We know that there is a great deal of informality in the Algarve, precarious employment contracts, and some jobs do not even come with a contract,” she said.
The state of Portugal’s National Health Service (SNS) was also a major focus of the protest. “It has been facing problems for several decades because it has suffered successive attacks from successive governments,” Ms Marques said.
“At the moment, the major problem is a lack of investment, which is leading to a deterioration in services,” with consequences for health professionals, who are “hugely undervalued and working completely inhumane hours”.
Marques also criticised what she described as “a possibility that the Government appears to want to open up, the privatisation of the Algarve Local Health Unit (ULS), handing it over to the Portuguese Union of Misericórdias”.
“We do not believe this is the best way forward. The best route for public services is, in fact, major state investment in public services, higher wages, and greater recognition for professions and careers. That is what allows public services to fulfil their mission and respond both to the needs of communities and to individuals.”
At the end of the day, USAL unanimously approved a motion which, alongside the concerns already raised, also addressed the ongoing housing crisis.
Although the crisis affects the whole country, “here we have a very serious problem. In the Algarve it is even worse, because prices are higher,” Catarina Marques said, pointing out that the region ranks among the three most expensive areas in the country in terms of price per square metre.
Among its demands, the motion calls for a 15% general increase in wages, “with a minimum of €150 for every worker”, as well as raising Portugal’s national minimum wage to €1,050.
Workers are also calling for working hours to be regulated, for a 35-hour working week to be established for everyone without loss of pay, and for limits to be placed on shift work, night work and weekend work.
In the speech that brought the demonstration to a close, Catarina Marques insisted that higher wages are “the central condition for tackling the rising cost of living” and ensuring “social justice in the distribution of the wealth created”.
“We have to stop being a wealthy region with impoverished workers,” she said.
She also highlighted shortcomings in the public transport network and difficulties accessing healthcare, contrasting these problems with the economic performance of the tourism industry.
“In the Algarve, houses are more expensive, the transport network does not meet people’s needs, we are witnessing the collapse of the NHS, the wealth accumulated by the tourism sector is growing ever larger, but wages, working conditions, and the recognition of professionals are becoming increasingly worse.”
“We cannot accept becoming poorer by working,” she stressed.
Source: Barlavento
Photo credit: Lucas Lopes
