Strike wave hits Portugal while bond yield soars
By DPA, IANSThursday, February 10, 2011
LISBON - Portuguese rail workers staged a strike Thursday to protest government austerity measures while the yield on Portuguese 10-year bonds soared to a record 7.6 percent.
Seven percent is regarded as a psychological limit beyond which Portugal could be forced to follow Greece and Ireland in accepting an international bailout.
The rising bond yield was seen as indicating that Prime Minister Jose Socrates’ austerity policies had failed to restore market confidence in the economy.
Socrates intends to slash Portugal’s public deficit from 7.3 percent in 2010 to 4.6 percent this year.
The rail workers were protesting measures, including a 5 percent cut in public sector salaries, as well as reductions in social spending and public investments.
About 70 early morning trains were cancelled, said a spokeswoman for the national rail company CP.
The vast majority of trains were expected to be cancelled on suburban lines in the Lisbon and Porto areas. Many long-distance trains and more than half of regional services would nevertheless operate, the CP said.
Post office workers also announced partial work stoppages for Thursday.
The rail strike followed others that paralysed the Lisbon underground for six hours, and affected bus services in Porto and ferry traffic over River Tagus earlier this week.
The strikes followed a general strike in November.
