Abstract

COSTA, Hermes Augusto; DIAS, Hugo  and  SOEIRO, José. Strikes and Austerity in Portugal: Perspectives, Manifestations and Recompositions. Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais [online]. 2014, n.103, pp.173-202. ISSN 2182-7435.  https://doi.org/10.4000/rccs.5584.

Against the background of worsening employment conditions and increasing imbalances in labour relations, this text discusses the importance of the strike phenomenon in the context of austerity. The first section presents some sociological perspectives on strikes, specifically those relating to notions of democracy and socio-legal regulation, ideology/ies and tensions between collective and individual action, issues of scale and controversies, and also timing and outcomes. The second part adopts a quantitative approach and seeks to determine whether the theoretical potential of conflict can be verified in concrete terms. Finally, it discusses the experience of a strike by workers in a specific precarious sector (employees at the “Saúde 24” medical helpline), which provides scope for an assessment of the challenges facing trade union activity and reflections on new ways of organising social conflict.

Keywords : austerity; labour market; precarization of labour; strikes; workers’ rights.

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