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IWA Extraordinary Congress in Porto

On December 6-7, 2014, an Extraordinary Congress of the IWA took place in Porto, Portugal. On the Agenda were unfinished items of business from the XXV Congress of 2013, plus new motions and initiatives. 80 delegates and observers from 13 Sections and one Friend organization took part.

Emotions ran high throughout the Congress. Again some outstanding matters need to go to the next Congress in 2016. A number of new iniatives were passed, including the creation of a media group, a historical project and the go-ahead for broad centenary celebrations in 2022.

We welcome the OLS from Sweden as new Friends of the IWA. We were all pleased to hear about their work and success in a few work conflicts and look forward to fruitful cooperation in the future.

Portugal: austerity and general strike

The following is a report by our Portuguese sister organisation about austerity measures and the recent general strike..

On the last 24th November a new general strike took place in Portugal, exactly one year after the previous one. This was the seventh general strike in Portugal in 37 years and the third convoked by the two main labor unions CGTP and UGT.

A report on the Portuguese General Strike of November 24th

The following is a report by our Portuguese sister organisation on the one-day general strike that paralyzed Portugal on November 24, as Portuguese workers fight austerity measures being imposed by the Socialist Party government.

This is the first general strike in Portugal for the last 22 years and that alone should shed some light over the social situation in this country. In fact, class struggle in Portugal is quite low and the number of strikes has actually been falling for the past thirty years, despite the continuously worsening situation of the Portuguese working class. Unionisation rates tend to fall as well, as the two large Portuguese party-run Trade Unions serve more to appease and stall conflicts than to fight exploitation, and that hasn't gone unnoticed.