Lisbon, Portugal – On Thursday, June 18, thousands of workers marched outside the Assembly of the Republic demanding that the right-wing government kill the anti-worker “labor package” they were poised to vote on. The next day, in a vote that shocked most pundits, the labor package was voted down by the legislators even though there is a right-wing majority in the assembly.

How did this happen? Over nearly a year, the governing right-wing parties tried to push the proposal through, presenting it as absolutely necessary and its passage as inevitable.

But Portugal’s militant union federation, the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP), had different ideas. They sprung into motion, and over 11 months they carried out several mass marches and two general strikes – one on December 11, 2025, and another earlier this month, on June 3.

While Prime Minister Montenegro publicly claimed that not many workers participated in the general strikes, he and the right-wing parties knew that the reality on the ground was different. The general strike brought transportation systems, education and health care in the country to a near halt, and many private corporations, large and small, had significant numbers of workers go on strike, stopping production in important industries and sectors of the Portuguese economy. The working class spoke in a loud and united voice, saying that the labor package has to fall.

Even up to the day before the vote, the governing right-wing coalition thought they had the votes to pass it. But their negotiations to assure the votes of Chega, the farthest right-wing party, continued until a half hour before the vote. Chega is a far-right populist party not dissimilar from Trump’s MAGA movement. Ultimately, Chega likely feared losing the working-class voters in their base to the left if they voted in favor of the bosses’ labor package. So, Chega voted with the left-wing and centrist parties, sending the package to defeat.

The constant militant mobilizations by the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP) turned the labor package into a social question that drew sharp class lines. This made it impossible for the right-wing parties to simply craft labor policy behind closed doors at the behest of the rich. The working class took the stage and made this vote into a “which side are you on” question. The capitalists’ dream – of passing new labor laws that would increase profits for the rich by driving down workers’ living standards and peeling back union rights – turned into their nightmare of awakening the unity and militant action of the working class.

After the vote in the assembly, the leader of the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (CGTP), Tiago Oliveira, said, “It was 11 months of struggle that translated into 11 months of workers mobilizing constantly, building two huge general strikes, building a set of initiatives that translated today into the defeat of the labor package. So today I give a huge recognition to the determining role of the workers’ struggle that developed over these long 11 months. It was the workers who were essential in all of these developments. The workers were the key that determined the position of all the political parties that today voted against this labor package. In the name of the CGTP, a word of solidarity and gratitude to the workers, because they are the true creators of everything good in our lives. Today it’s proven that it’s the workers’ struggle that determines whatever outcome.”

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