(Lisbon) All Portuguese journalists have been called to celebrate a day of strike on Thursday, the first in 42 years, to denounce low salaries and the fragility of the sector in great difficulty.
About forty national and local media editorial boards were affected by this movement launched by the Journalists Syndicate, as the latter indicated in a press release.
Lusa news agency has not published any news since midnight on Wednesday, and public radio Antena 1 and its private rival TSF have not broadcast newspapers and online editions of the leading daily newspaper. Publico Or the weekly magazine Visaw In particular, the union said it had also stopped publishing information.
He stressed in a press release that “lack of job security and low wages” constitute an “obstacle” to the citizen’s right to “information.”
The strikers are particularly demanding a “wage increase” to combat inflation, and adherence to the labor law regarding overtime wages.
Several marches were planned for this day in Lisbon, Porto (north) and Coimbra (centre).
The last “general strike” of Portuguese journalists dates back to 1982.
This social movement comes at a time when one of the main national media groups, Global Media, announced this week a new layoff plan targeting about twenty employees, including about ten journalists, due to a “complicated financial situation.”
The group, which saw its sales fall by €4.3 million last year, ended the year with a loss of €7.2 million.
Privately owned by Global Media Noticias Magazinethe largest general daily newspaper based in Porto (North), TSF News Radio and Diario de Noticias (DN), the oldest national daily newspaper will celebrate its 160th anniversary this year.
The Syndicate of Journalists denounced the situation of this group, expressing its regret that the solution is limited to “layoffs of workers,” and questioned the timing chosen for this announcement “while the group is about to be rescued with several million euros thanks to the sale” of several securities, such as TSF.
The union recalled that the group had already implemented several waves of layoffs in recent years, targeting 119 employees in 2009, 140 in 2014, and 81 in 2020.
