While the Portuguese administration was supposed to be submitting its budget to parliament, the two largest labor unions in the country proposed a general strike against austerity measures. Portugal, like other European countries, has bee cutting spending and raising taxes to meet conditions of a loan from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. The unions, which represent about 90% of all unionized workers in Portugal, said that they would set a date for the strike on Wednesday. Around 40,000 people marched in demonstrations on Saturday, as part of global protests about economic inequality.
See "Portugal unions propose general strike", Daniel Alvarenga and Andrei Khalip, Reuters, October 16, 2011