"What we have asked of the President is that he does not promulgate, so [that he] veto this decree-law, in that it does not comply with a law of greater force, in this case the 2019 state budget law," the secretary-general of the Fenprof union federation, Mário Nogueira, told journalists after a 50-minute audience with the head of state.

Representatives of Fenprof, the FNE, the SEPLEU and the SPLIU were received on Monday by the president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, at their request, so that they could present their arguments for him not to promulgate the statute approved by the cabinet last Thursday.

The legislation only foresees two-and-a-half years of teachers’ service time counting for the purposes of career progression of the time that has been frozen for almost a decade. The unions are demanding that the full nine years, four months and 29 days be recognised for career purposes.

"It seemed to us that the president was touched by our arguments,” Nogueira said. “That doesn't mean he is going to make one decision or another - we don't know that - [but] nor was that why we came here. We have come to bring topics for the president to reflect on.”

Nogueira said that the president had asked whether, if the law was not promulgated, whether there was not a risk of the unions losing the two-and-a-half years proposed by the government. His answer was that, in such a situation, parliament would be responsible and there would be a new negotiating framework for the 2019 budget.

Unions have issued notice of a series of regional strikes from 15 October to 31 December on the issue.