Assessment of the General Strike of 11 December

The General Strike of 11 December 2025 was a direct, clear and forceful response by the working class to the new labour package and policies of the PSD/CDS government in Montenegro, which aim to increase precariousness, reduce rights and increase profits for employers at the expense of increased exploitation. This action demonstrated the potential for mobilisation in strategic sectors of the country, with a significant impact on the public sector, transport, health and education, as well as in various areas of the private sector.

In the call centre sector, the General Strike clearly showed that where there is trade union organisation, workers can have a concrete impact on the operation of companies. Although some companies experienced little or no disruption — 10% of companies were not affected at all and 47.5% experienced only limited effects — a significant proportion of operations were directly affected. Around 40% of companies experienced partial service disruption, and 2.5% faced total disruption.

These impacts had practical repercussions on management and daily operations: in 65.7% of companies, there was a direct increase in customer waiting times, in 37.5% supervisors had to cover operational tasks, and in 40% of situations, companies resorted to forwarding calls to external teams or to other countries.

Analysis of this data shows that trade union organisation is crucial in turning strikes into a real instrument of pressure, forcing companies to face concrete consequences, even in contexts of high fragmentation and dispersion of labour. The effect is not limited to numbers: it shows that when workers mobilise collectively, they can disrupt processes and directly affect the operation of companies, reinforcing the importance of consolidating strong trade union structures in the sector. Even in companies with insufficient organisation, and in an environment of intense harassment and pressure, the strike put concrete pressure on employers, showing that collective struggle is the main tool of resistance.

The STCC stresses that the strike on 11 December is not an end in itself, but the first step in the struggle against the new labour package and against this government's policies, which seek to impose greater exploitation and precariousness, reducing rights won through decades of struggle. It is absolutely essential to strengthen unionisation, organise workers and take the struggle to the streets, confronting employers and the state, who insist on negotiating to the extent that they can reverse labour legislation in favour of capital.

The general strike demonstrated that when workers organise and unite around clear objectives, they can have a concrete impact on production and services, forcing employers and the government to recognise the strength of the working class. The road ahead requires ongoing mobilisation and collective struggle, building resistance and solidarity so that this labour package does not pass and lasting rights are won for all workers.

Sindicato dos Trabalhadores de Call Center, member of the International Trade Union Network of Solidarity and Struggles

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Message sent before the strike

Workers in Portugal are facing one of the most serious attacks on labor rights in decades.

The right-wing government led by Luís Montenegro has presented a package of more than 100 amendments to labor legislation, a set of measures that, in practice, dismantles historic guarantees and deepens exploitation in the workplace.

Among the most serious proposals are:

• Generalization of individual time banks, without collective bargaining, extending working hours and handing control of schedules over to companies;
• Restriction of parental rights and more obstacles to reconciling work, social, and family life;
• Facilitation of dismissals, allowing companies to prevent reinstatement even when the dismissal is considered illegal;
• Increased precariousness, encouraging outsourcing and subcontracting to replace workers with more rights with more vulnerable and lower-paid labor;
• End of collective bargaining;
• Restrictions on the right to strike and union activity in the workplace.

Faced with this frontal attack, the country's two main trade union confederations—CGTP and UGT—called a general strike for December 11, something that had not happened in over a decade. Several independent unions (STASA, STCC, ...) joined the mobilization, as did social movements such as the Movement for Decent Housing and collectives in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

This is a decisive moment. What is happening in Portugal is directly linked to processes in various parts of the world that seek to dismantle rights, weaken collective organization, and increase exploitation. For this reason, international solidarity is not only necessary but urgent.

See the sample motion [HERE].

The motions should be addressed to the following emails:

stasa.geral@gmail.com
cgtp@cgtp.pt
geral@ugt.pt