Court throws out pay cuts

For the second time in the last year, the Portuguese constitutional court has ruled that the government’s plan to cut public sector workers’ pay by eliminating the additional month’s pay they receive in the summer is illegal and must be withdrawn.

The pay cut is one of four austerity measures declared unconstitutional, which include similar cuts to extra pension payments in the summer and reductions in sickness and unemployment benefits.

The court found that the public sector pay cut, which is equivalent to the loss of around 7% of annual earnings for those affected, imposed an unequal burden on public sector workers.

Despite this setback, the government has made it clear that it will not change its overall financial plans, and the European Commission has urged it not to do so.

For Arménio Carlos, general secretary of the CGTP, the country’s largest union confederation, the government’s decision to press ahead means “brutal cuts in social spending”. João Proença, general secretary of the smaller UGT, was similarly fearful, saying that the government’s plans offered “no hope to the Portuguese”.