Throughout the day, the PCP (Portuguese Communist Party) contacted the population of the municipality of Câmara de Lobos, stating that “it is possible to change the policy of precarious work and low wages in the region, which is the driving force behind the exploitation and impoverishment of the majority of Madeirans and Porto-Santenses.”

During the initiative at the Câmara de Lobos Municipal Market, PCP leader Ricardo Lume said that “the most recent data on poverty and social exclusion in the region shows that even with the so-called economic growth, more than 72,000 Madeirans and Porto-Santenses live at risk of poverty and social exclusion, with more than 17% of the archipelago’s workers living on the poverty line”.

The PCP leader denounced that “alongside the risk of poverty and severe material deprivation, impoverishment is a reality that increasingly affects thousands of families who are not yet poor. In these dynamics, impoverishment is a vast and profound economic and social process that is imposing itself on many families who are not yet poor. More than a threat, impoverishment is the current experience of life for so many people who feel, month after month, the concrete consequences of a sharp drop in income. And it is a process that affects many of the non-poor, that affects so many of those who are not yet below the poverty line into the world of poverty and even social exclusion.”

“The policy of exploitation and impoverishment applied in the region in recent decades means that even those who have jobs here are not free from poverty. The policy of low wages means that at the end of a person’s working career, the value of their pensions is too low to meet the most basic needs of a pensioner,” he added.

Ricardo Lume concluded by saying that “the people of Madeira and Porto Santo are not condemned to the policy of exploitation and impoverishment that has been in force in our region for the last few decades applied by the PSD, now with the cronyism of the CDS, PAN, CHEGA, and Liberal Initiative.”

The PCP, therefore, “defends another policy that values work and workers, guarantees decent pensions for those who have worked all their lives, and ensures quality public services for all.”

in Jornal da Madeira

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno.