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Portugal's Communist Party continues struggle to lift monthly minimum wage

Xinhua, December 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

Secretary General of Portugal's Communist Party, Jeronimo de Sousa, said on Tuesday that the party will continue to fight to increase the country's monthly minimum wage to 600 euros (622 U.S. dollars).

"Our fight to lift the minimum wage to 600 euros is a fight that will continue," Jeronimo de Sousa told journalists following a meeting with President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa at the Belem Palace in Lisbon.

"We will persist, and together with the recipients of our proposal, the workers who live on the minimum national wage, we will ensure that this proposal, this initiative, this just objective, will triumph."

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa came into power in November last year.

Costa has promised to reverse austerity, namely increasing the minimum wage and restoring salaries and pensions. However, the Portuguese parliament recently rejected the proposal to raise the minimum wage to 600 euros.

While the Communist Party said raising the minimum salary to 600 euros by January 2017 was necessary to avoid poverty and boost economy, Costa has said this won't be possible until January 2019. Endit