The Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, downplayed the participation in the general strike, which is impacting various sectors from transport to health. The government considers, however, that the level of participation is "insignificant", contrary to what the unions say, according to a report by NM.

"This seems more like a partial strike by the Civil Service. The country is working. The strike participation is insignificant," said the Minister of the Presidency, in a press conference assessing the strike in Lisbon. "The overwhelming majority of the country is working," he concluded.

"We respect those who are striking, but we note that the country has chosen to work," added Leitão Amaro, also emphasising that "if some people were unable to work, it was because of the disruptions to transportation."

Leitão Amaro also used payment data to downplay the strike participation: "Transactions on SIBS, which demonstrate whether the country is maintaining commercial financial activity, are currently down 7% compared to the normal period."

Furthermore, Leitão Amaro said that "traffic on the bridges from the south to Lisbon, with Lisbon being one of the most affected areas, is down 5%," which he sees "as an insignificant impact."

The Minister of the Presidency also guaranteed that the Executive has been "always open to dialogue," which "yields results."

3 million on strike

In turn, the CGTP has a different perspective on the participation in the strike and estimates that more than three million people joined the general strike this Thursday, December 11, announced the general secretary of the trade union confederation, shortly after the Government downplayed the participation.

"The general strike being held today is one of the largest of all time, if not the largest of all time," said Tiago Oliveira in a press conference summarizing the strike, where he revealed participation exceeding three million workers.

In the union leader's opinion, this is an "unequivocal force demanding higher wages and more rights."

"Today we have a huge, huge, huge strike," he concluded.

The general strike on December 11th was called by the CGTP and UGT unions against the proposed revision of the labour Code and will be the first joint strike by the two unions since June 2013, when Portugal was under the intervention of the 'troika'.