Workers have taken to the streets in Portugal against austerity measures being imposed by the government and the European Union to address the capitalist economic crisis. The crisis is acute in Greece, Spain, Ireland and Britain., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Portugal to lay off 30,000 public sector workers
Sat May 4, 2013 1:13AM GMT
Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho has announced that the government plans to slash 30,000 public sector jobs as part of a sweeping package of spending cuts being implemented to mollify international creditors.
In a speech to the nation late on Friday, Coelho unveiled the contents of the center-right government's new "medium-term program," under which Portugal is hoping to save a total of six billion euros over the next three years. The prime minister also said that the full pension age would raised from 65 to 66 and that civil servants would be expected to work 40 hours per week instead of 35.
The decision on the new austerity measures was made in order to keep the small debt-ridden eurozone member eligible for another slice of its much-needed bailout.
The measures include plans for a special pensions contribution that would spare the least well-off.
In all, the package would bring in around 4.8 billion euros by 2015, the premier said.
"To hesitate now would harm the credibility that we have already won back," Coelho stated, adding that the move was necessary to avoid a second bailout.
With the cuts, Portugal's public deficit is anticipated to narrow to 5.5 percent of gross domestic product this year, to 4.0 percent in 2014, and finally to 2.5 percent in 2015.
However, the plan must also be approved by Portugal's troika of international lenders -- the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. The troika granted Portugal a 78-billion-euro bailout loan two years ago.
Portugal is grappling with its worst recession since the 1970s, and the Portuguese economy is forecast to shrink by 2.3 percent this year, with unemployment expected to exceed the all-time high of 18 percent.
Last month, the government was forced to revise its 2013 austerity plans when the country's Constitutional Court rejected several proposed cuts.
Portugal’s UGT labor confederation says unions will reject any cuts that affect wages, pensions, or public sector jobs.
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