Industrial relations in the Portuguese shipbuilding industry

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In 2000, trade unions and employers in the Portuguese shipbuilding industry are trying out new strategies in response to the crisis the sector is experiencing. Strategies revolve around: internal organisational restructuring; changes in collective bargaining, such as decentralisation and new topics for negotiation; and recourse to new human resources practices, such as outsourcing.

The shipbuilding and repair industry, which currently consists almost entirely of ship repair, accounts for 50% of what is referred to as the "transport material construction industry" in Portugal. It represents 3.7% of the country's entire "transformation" industry sector. The industry includes both wooden shipyards operated by a number of small enterprises, and metal shipyards run by about a dozen enterprises. Some of these enterprises also serve as repair shops for fishing vessels or maritime transport vessels, as in the case of two shipyards in Figueira da Foz and two others in Aveiro. At the present time, serious problems in the shipbuilding market and attendant social problems are being debated.

The shipyards of Margueira, Mitrena and Viana do Castelo stand out in the industry because of their ability to compete in the external market. The Viana do Castelo Shipyard, which has been undergoing restructuring (PT9806184N), is a state-owned enterprise and employs around 1,200 workers. Margueira and Mitrena were nationalised in the 1970s, but were later reprivatised when the government launched a plan in 1992 to restructure the shipbuilding industry. The Lisnave shipyards at Margueira and Mitrena retook this pre-nationalisation name after being reacquired by their original owners. Privatisation was carried out with significant help from the state in the form of:

• making the company financially sound; and

• taking responsibility for the social costs of reducing the number of permanent employees of Lisnave by creating a state-owned service-provider company, Gertnave, to absorb a large part of what was considered excess workforce at Lisnave (PT9703106F); and

The Lisnave workforce was highly skilled, but difficult to convert to new technologies and, on average, fairly old. Currently, Lisnave and Gertnave together employ around 2,770 permanent full-time workers. Lisnave employed around 6,200 workers in 1996/7, according to the Federation of Metalworking, Mining, Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Petroleum and Gas Workers' Unions (Federação Federação Intersindical da Metalúrgia, Minas, Química, Farmacêutica, Petróleo e Gaz, FEQUIMETAL)

The industrial relations system in shipbuilding

Social partners

Companies in the shipbuilding and repair industry are represented by the Association of Maritime Industries (Associação das Indústrias Marítimas). The most important companies in the industry, such as Lisnave, are among its leading members. The association is a member of National Employers' Federation of Metalworking Industries (Federação Nacional da Metal, FENAME).

The trade unions that have been most active in the shipbuilding industry are the metalworkers' unions. Within the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses, CGTP), the organisation representing shipbuilding workers was until recently the Federation of Metalworking and Mining Unions (Federação dos Sindicatos dos Trabalhadores da Indústra Metalúrgica e Minas), which recently combined forces with the chemical industry unions to form FEQUIMETAL. Within the General Worker's Union (União Geral de Trabalhadores, UGT), shipbuilding workers are represented by the Union of Metalworking and Related Industries (Sindicato das Indústrias Metalúrgicas e Afins, SIMA).

At its 1999 congress, FEQUIMETAL called for:

• an analysis of the potential of Portuguese shipyards and the market, with an emphasis on the national market. The union believes that Portugal spends large amounts on shipping and freight costs every year that could be better spent on renovating commercial and fishing fleets. It calls attention to the fact that ship-owners, and even the state, place their orders with foreign shipyards that are highly protected by their governments, which then in turn subcontract to Portuguese shipyards;

• collective bargaining that guarantees the rights of the workers;

• permanent secure employment for workers currently without job security; and

• vocational training and equal opportunities.

Collective bargaining in the sector

Shipbuilding is included within the umbrella agreement for the entire metalworking sector. Shipbuilding employers are represented by the Association of Maritime Industries, which is part of the FENAME metalworking industry federation. On the union side, there are a number of CGTP- and UGT-oriented unions that participate in bargaining in the sector.

Wage negotiations in metalworking have been conducted on a yearly basis in the case of UGT unions. However, the most recent wage increases in the agreement with the CGTP unions were agreed in 1997 and the sectoral agreement as a whole was last negotiated in 1994 after a long period without negotiations. In such cases, the companies sometimes pay all workers the most recently negotiated wage, irrespective of their union membership.

The Association of Maritime Industries has recently presented proposals for a subsectoral collective agreement specifically for the shipbuilding industry. According to FEQUIMETAL, the most striking feature of the employers' proposed agreement is the annualisation of working time, which it claims could cause serious hardship for workers. Ship repair is an industry marked by peak periods and overtime pay is an important part of workers' incomes.

Participation and human resources practices

The larger companies, Lisnave and Viana do Castelo shipyards, have active workers' commission s, which have participated in the information and consultation process on the restructuring of these firms.

Lisnave negotiated Portugal's most important - and nearly unique - enterprise-level "social pact" in the 1980s, at a time of serious crisis in both the national economy and the shipbuilding sector. The UGT-oriented trade unions were an influential force among workers in this initiative

Nowadays the shipbuilding industry, and especially companies like Lisnave, frequently subcontract work to outside companies, some of which are owned by their former employees.

European Day of Action

A European day of action in the shipbuilding industry was staged on 5 November 1999 by trade unions affiliated to theEuropean Metalworkers' Federation (EMF) in the European countries involved in the sector. The aim was to call attention to the crisis in the European shipbuilding sector - said to be due to fiercer global competition, particularly from state-subsidised Korea n shipyards - and to persuade EU industry ministers to take steps to safeguard the industry. The day of action included stoppages, demonstrations and rallies, press conferences, leafleting and petitions to national ministers (EU9911208N). In Portugal, the trade unions responded with a strike. FEQUIMETAL went all out to mobilise workers, particularly at the Aveiro, Figueira da Foz and Viana shipyards, where strike compliance was 100%. At Lisnave, work stopped only for a mass meeting of workers.

The focus of the strike in Portugal was to call attention to the need to revitalise shipbuilding, where 20,000 of jobs have been lost in Portugal alone. At the same time, the industry has shifted to other countries outside the EU. Workers called for the sector's potential to be increased through modernisation, and for job guarantees.

Commentary

This shipbuilding sector was a strategic one in the 1960s and 1970s in Portugal. Today it holds a modest place in Portuguese industry and is reaching out to form international ties. Trade union proposals to revive the sector are primarily directed at the national market.

With regard to human resources strategies, the crisis and restructuring that the sector has undergone have been surmounted by fragmenting a workforce that, in the 1970s, was one of the most powerful groups of workers in Portugal. As can be seen from the latest employers' proposal, collective bargaining in the sector shows signs of decentralisation, and new forms of organisation of working time are being presented as a topic for negotiation. (Maria Luisa Cristovam)