Portugal grounds to a halt in general strike protesting austerity measures

[Joanne98]

Source: Telegraph

Portugal was crippled on Wednesday as workers staged a 24 strike causing travel chaos and closing schools and hospitals to protest against tough austerity measures designed to tackle the debt crisis.

The stoppage, the first since 1988 to involve Portugal’s two main unions, the UGT and CGTP, grounded flights, disrupted ports, train and bus services and shut down schools and factories to protest against proposed wage cuts and tax increases.

The Portuguese strike comes ahead of a vote in Parliament on Friday when the Socialist government hopes to push through unpopular austerity measures designed to quell rising speculation that Portugal will be the next in Europe to require a bail-out after Ireland and Greece.

Prime Minister Jose Socrates insisted this week that “Portugal doesn’t need anyone’s help” and will not request a financial rescue by the European Union and International Monetary Fund.



Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/8157820/Portugal-grounds-to-a-halt-in-general-strike-protesting-austerity-measures.html

[Texano78704]

1. This would never happen here

Despite GOP plans to do the same.

[JackRiddler]

2. What's wrong with here, that only the GOP would plan such a strike...

and do so on behalf of austerity measures?

[Texano78704]

7. So...

Failure to be a filibuster-proof majority would be evidence of active participation in "austerity measures?" I think the NObama campaign posts elsewhere.

[JackRiddler]

9. What? Whatever you read, it wasn't what I wrote.

Sounds more like you have an easy trigger finger on a copy-paste talking point that you inserted here without realizing it bears no relation to what I said.

[Texano78704]

10. My mistake

I misunderstood your intent.

[JackRiddler]

11. Apology accepted.

Thanks.

[Joanne98]

4. Americans are pathetic.

[femrap]

5. America is no longer

America....it has been renamed Dumfukistan! It's very hard on me and some of my progressive friends because we are not Dumfukistaniams/Dumfukistanis.

So many are so stupid that they don't realize how stupid they are.

If Dumfukistanians can't afford cable, they might riot. There's always a tipping point.

Think I'll go :hide:

[blackspade]

3. Yea Unions!

[DavidDvorkin]

6. Grinds to a halt

The headline in The Telegraph has it right.

[DLnyc]

8. Yes, grounding is for airplanes, not for countries.