Portugal Resident, October 11, 2013 A five-day strike organised by the nurses’ union against the increase in the weekly working hours from 35 to 40 is planned across Portugal and will affect the Algarve on October 17. 

In a press conference last Friday in Lisbon, the union demanded negotiations over the maintenance of the 35-hour workweek for nurses working for the National Health Service, as well as a review of the salary grid. 

José Carlos Martins, the union leader, said that the government did not expect to negotiate the union’s entire proposal but that the Ministry of Health was hoping for a peaceful settlement. ... Nurses