LISBON - Portuguese port workers started a five-day strike on Monday which is threatening to disrupt exports, the only sector of the economy doing well as the government imposes harsh austerity.
The strike hit most of the country’s ports, including Lisbon, with only minimum services maintained as workers protested against the closure of the port handling company in the northern port of Aveiro.
The strike comes at a sensitive time as it could hit exports just as the country enters the toughest year of austerity under its 78-billion-euro bailout from the European Union and IMF.
"I don’t have much hope that there will be any compromise," said Vitor Dias, the vice-president of the FESMARPOR confederation of maritime and port workers. "But we are ready to end the strike when there is."
The workers want the government to ensure the port handling company in Aveiro does not go bankrupt and that staff there do not lose their jobs.
