Portugal’s construction industry is facing its worst-ever labour situation, as 70% of foreigners entering the country to join the sector have no experience, the country’s Construction Union said on Thursday.
“I have nothing against foreign workers, but around 70% of this labour is not what our country needs, many of these workers have never worked in the construction sector, and this is not the type of labour that Portugal wants for major construction projects,” Albano Ribeiro, president of the Portuguese Construction Union, told Lusa.
Urgent measures are thus needed “to put an end to the most serious situation ever in the construction sector”, the union leader stressed, adding that the union requested a meeting with Labour Minister Ana Mendes Godinho late on Thursday to address the issue of the increase in informal workers in the sector, which “takes millions of euros” from Social Security.
“I hear a lot of talk on the television, government officials crowing that they’re going to build this, this infrastructure, that, hospitals, roads, railways. There are no workers to build them. I’m not even talking about Lisbon airport, which will require around 20,000 workers,” Ribeiro emphasised.
The informal economy is “taking over” the construction industry due to labour recruitment networks, according to the union which dubbed these “mafia networks”.
These quickly bring workers into the country from all over the world, who “work by the hour, or by the piece, or don’t pay anything, or pay 15 days a month to Social Security”, he added.
(Maria João Pereira | Lusa.pt – Edited by Maria de Deus Rodrigues)
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