Catarina Martins, António Filipe and Jorge Pinto express their opposition to the labor package.

In statements to journalists, while the demonstration passed through Marquês de Pombal and continued towards Avenida da Liberdade, in Lisbon, Catarina Martins argued that, if the Government's package maintains the terms of the draft approved in July, "a President of the Republic must immediately send it for preventive review of its constitutionality".

"I think it's very important that all candidates for President of the Republic speak out about what they think the Government has put on the table," added the MEP and former coordinator of the Left Bloc, for whom the labor package constitutes "an attack on work" and "violates the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic" with regard to the right to strike and the prohibition of dismissals without just cause.

António Filipe, who spoke to the media a little later, described the labor package as "a weapon of the employers against the workers" and promised that he would be "in solidarity with the forms of struggle that the workers decide to undertake to prevent this proposed amendment to liberal legislation from going ahead."

"I know that the election for President of the Republic is on the 18th [of January], the President of the Republic will only take office on [09] of March, I hope that by then this bill will be defeated," added the former deputy and presidential candidate supported by the PCP.

In turn, Jorge Pinto considered that the Government's draft proposal, as it stands, "represents a tremendous setback to workers' rights" such as has not been seen "for many years," meaning "more precariousness" and "longer working hours, an attack on the right to strike, and making dismissal easier without the worker having the ability to defend themselves."

"As President of the Republic, and I say this with complete clarity, I would politically veto this proposal if it reached me in its current form. And I believe that the Government and the political parties in the Assembly of the Republic still have time to listen to these thousands of people," stated the deputy and presidential candidate supported by Livre.

Among the changes included in the Government's draft revision of labor legislation are the extension of the duration of fixed-term contracts, the return of individual time banks, the end of the ban on external hiring after dismissals, the revision of parental leave, and the reinforcement of mandatory minimum services in case of strikes.