Widespread disruption hit Portuguese air travel and trains, hospitals and schools on Thursday as the unions called the biggest nationwide strike action for more than a decade against government labour reforms.

A government spokesman insisted that "the vast majority" of Portuguese people were at work and likened the walk-out to "a partial strike in certain areas of the public sector".

But unions maintained that more than three million people took part in the walk-out -- more than half of the country's total working population of 5.5 million.

Underground metro stations in the capital, Lisbon, were shut while ferries and trains ran a skeleton service, with departure boards overwhelmingly announcing cancellations.

"I got up at four o'clock to go to work but I'm stuck because I've still not

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