This record reviews 2001's main developments in industrial relations in Portugal
Presidential elections took place in January 2001. Jorge Sampaio of the Socialist Party (Partido Socialista, PS) was elected President of the Portuguese Republic, obtaining 55.76% of the votes.
Local government elections were held on 16 December 2001. As a result, 76 of the country's 308 town halls changed hands from the governing Socialist Party (Partido Socialista, PS) to the Social Democrat Party (Partido Social Democrata PPD/PSD). The PS won 34.12% of the vote and PPD/PSD 28.22%. This swing away from the party of government upset the political balance of the country and had an immediate impact on central government and the PS, which does not quite have an absolute majority in parliament. The political situation prompted the Prime Minister, António Guterres, to tender his resignation, thus bringing about an early general election, which the President set for 17 March 2002.
The number of agreements negotiated or renegotiated in 2001 was approximately 6.6% higher than in 2000, according to provisional data available at the end of 2001 - see table 1 below (multi-employer agreements are agreements covering more than one company, but not signed by an employers' association).
| . | 2000 | 2001 |
| Sectoral agreements | 217 | 236 |
| Multi-employer agreements | 20 | 20 |
| Company-level agreements | 94 | 97 |
| Total | 331 | 353 |
Source: DGCT.
According to the Ministry of Labour and Solidarity's Directorate-General of Working Conditions (Direcção-Geral das Condições de Trabalho, DGCT), in both 2000 and 2001, collective agreements focused on remuneration issues, with a higher number of agreements on these issues recorded in 2000 than in 2001. Average collectively agreed pay increases stood at 3.9% in 2001, compared with 3.3% in 2000.
DGCT figures on changes to the remuneration provisions of collective agreements in the first three quarters of 2001 indicate that (as in the same period of 2000) changes to pay scales were the most common revisions in company-level and sectoral agreements, followed by changes relating to meal allowances, cash-handling allowances, travel allowances and long-service payments
Bargaining on working time issues was less dominant in 2001 than in the previous year. DGCT reports a total of six company-level agreements on the duration of working time in 2001, compared with 10 in 2000. At sectoral level, there were only two agreements on the duration of working time, compared with 13 in 2000. There was one company agreement and four sectoral agreements on the adaptability and flexibility of working time, compared with 14 company accords and five sectoral agreements in 2000.
Average collectively agreed normal weekly working hours stood at 38.7 in 1999, the last year for which figures are available.
In December 2001, VW Autoeuropa, a subsidiary of the German motor manufacturer Volkswagen, argued that a reorganisation of working time has become essential for the development of the automobile industry in Portugal. The company's call for greater flexibility has been supported by other motor manufacturers and reflects a wider debate on working time organisation and on investment by foreign-based multinationals (PT0112163F).
In April 2001, an informal agreement was reached between management and trade unions at the Lisbon public water company, EPAL. The innovative provisions of the deal include the introduction of a 35-hour working week by 2004 and additional holiday entitlement, which were criticised by the Portuguese Business Association (Associação dos Empresários de Portugal, AEP), fearing a 'knock-on' effect in the private sector (PT0104145F).
According to DGCT, there was one company agreement and six sectoral agreements on restructuring and training during 2001, compared with two company agreements and six sectoral agreements in 2000.
Job security is a general topic of concern in Portugal – on 24 March 2001, the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (Confederação Geral de Trabalhadores, CGTP) called a national day of action to highlight increasing job insecurity as well as delays in fulfilling expectations of convergence with wage levels elsewhere in the EU (PT0104141N).
The gender pay gap is a source of concern in Portugal and this issue, along with more general equal opportunities issues, featured prominently in the 2001 Portuguese National Action Plan for employment (see below 'National Action Plan (NAP) for employment'). A seminar on equal pay was held in June 2001 as a joint initiative of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), CGTP and the General Workers' Union (União Geral de Trabalhadores, UGT). The initiative was an attempt to stimulate discussion and reflection on the topic. Participants called for additional measures to address the continuing inequalities between men and women and discussed recent developments, particularly the NAP and new equal opportunities legislation (PT0108163F).
According to DGCT, one company accord and six sectoral accords addressed the issue of training in 2001, compared with two company accords and six sectoral accords in 2000.
In February 2001, the central social partner organisations and the government signed an intersectoral agreement on 'employment, the labour market, education and training', under the aegis of the Economic and Social Council (Concelho Económico e Social, CES) (PT0102134F) (see below under 'The organisation and role of the social partners'). Among other provisions, the agreement provides for measures to:
DGCT data indicates that the other issues most dealt with in collective bargaining in 2001 were annual leave, job descriptions, career paths, absence and maternity and paternity cover.
A number of changes to employment legislation took place during 2001. A change to previous legislation regulating fixed-term contracts came into effect in August, through law no. 18/2001 (PT0108160F). One of the aims of the law, which establishes new rules governing the conclusion and termination of such contracts, is to ensure that employees who, de facto, have permanent jobs can benefit from a standard open-ended employment contract
Law no. 4/2001 came into effect on 10 January 2001, regulating the status of immigrant workers in Portugal (PT0101131F). The legislation includes measures which will make it easier for immigrants in employment to gain residence rights and allow illegal immigrants to regularise their situation. Overall, the trade unions regarded the law as positive, although they called attention to the possible consequences of the presence of immigrant workers in Portugal in terms of the labour market and working conditions .
Other key legislative changes which took place in 2001 included:
In 2001, a draft bill on shiftwork (PT0105148F) was debated in parliament. The intention was to introduce an integrated regulation governing this area in terms of working hours, health and safety conditions and retirement. However, the bill was not passed. During the year parliament also considered proposed legislation to prevent 'psychological terrorism' and 'moral harassment'- essentially bullying (or 'mobbing') - at the workplace (PT0101132F).
In 2001, there was less activity in terms of the creation and abolition of employers and employee representative bodies than in 2000.
Developments in 2001 recorded by the Ministry of Labour and Solidarity included the following:
There was no tendency for union restructuring through mergers, though it was reported during 2001 that moves to create a single banking trade union federation for the North, Centre and South of the country (replacing existing regional federations) were under way.
In terms of the role of the social partners, 2001 saw the national social dialogue process between the government and social partners, which was launched in January 2000 (PT0001179F), bear fruit in the form of three tripartite agreements:
Table 2 below sets out data on the number of strikes and strike calls in Portugal in the first three quarters of 2001 and of 2000.
| Type of strike | First three quarters of 2000 | First three quarters of 2001 |
| Public service | 31 | 49 |
| Company level | 222 | 163 |
| Sectoral | 25 | 15 |
| Called but not carried out | 152 | 166 |
| Unknown type | 3 | 1 |
| Strike notices | 821 | 591 |
Source: Institute for Development and Inspection of Working Conditions (Instituto para o desenvolvimento e Inspecçðo das Condicões de Trabalho, IDICT).
The data for the first three quarters of 2001 indicate that:
The 2001 Portuguese National Action Plan (NAP) for employment (PT0106151N) was approved by the government in May. Its key aims include: the intensification of the fight against illegal work; the promotion of employability; support for continuing training; and an increased number of jobs in the service sector.
The CIP industrial employers' organisation and Confederation of Portuguese Services and Commerce (Confederação do Comércio e Serviços de Portugal, CCP) stated that they were not consulted early enough on the 2001 NAP, while the CGTP union confederation and the Confederation of Portuguese Agriculture (Confederação da Agricultura de Portuguesa, CAP) stated that they were satisfied. The UGT union confederation was moderately satisfied.
However, the social partners did not in general feel that their points of view were taken on board in the content of the NAP – UGT, CCP and CAP were moderately satisfied while CIP and CGTP indicated less favourable opinions. In terms of the issues covered by the NAP, CGTP, UGT, CCP and CAP showed some degree of satisfaction, whilst CIP was not very satisfied. In respect of their own involvement with the NAP, the social partners, with the exception of the CCP, consider it to be generally satisfactory. Finally, the social partners indicated they were either moderately satisfied or dissatisfied with the way the NAP had been handling labour market issues in general.
There have been few studies carried out in relation to company restructuring in Portugal in the past few years or specifically in 2001. However, various statements have been made in the press about the need for modernisation and innovation. Further, a study on organisational change carried out by Institute for Innovation in Training (Instituto para a Inovação na Formação, INOFOR) highlights the numerous methods of improving the status of individuals in a context of organisational success and economic and social development.
The public institutions have also expressed an interest in promoting business modernisation policies, in particular through the 'business revitalisation and modernisation incentive scheme' (SIRME) run by the Institute for the Support of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (Instituto de Apoio às Pequenas e Médias Empresas e ao Investimento, IAPMEI). SIRME aims to improve the 'critical size' of Portuguese companies in order to: keep pace with economic globalisation in general and EU Economic and Monetary Union in particular; re-establish a competitive environment in companies that have suffered significant financial losses; and create a mergers and acquisitions market in order to change business practices that are not sufficiently dynamic.
Specific cases of industrial restructuring during 2001 included Portugal's national airline, TAP (PT0104142N) The airline is currently at a difficult stage between privatisation and continuing state intervention. Against this background, early 2001 saw the announcement of further restructuring measures, involving the loss of 700 jobs, while management and unions were in disagreement over a wage freeze.
Spring 2001 saw the latest in a series of announcements of job losses in Portugal, following the restructuring of multinational companies involving closures and relocation. The redundancies have affected sectors such as textiles and clothing (Têxteis Proteu and C&J Clark), steel (Siderurgia Nacional) electronics (Indelma) and motor manufacturing (VW Autoeuropa). The job losses, often hitting especially women and poorer regions, prompted much criticism and debate (PT0104144F). Furthermore, in the autumn, the glass-making and home textiles industries faced particular problems caused by competition from countries outside Europe, bringing company closures and the threat of unemployment (PT0111101N). Trade unions responded with industrial action and calls for government support.
Employee participation does not feature predominantly on the social partners' agenda or in academic studies in Portugal. There are some exceptions, however. For example, trade unions in the banking sector regard European Works Councils (EWCs) as an important topic for future discussion. In general, however, Portuguese representatives on EWCs are thought to be less visible than those of other countries. In addition, there is currently very little debate on issues such as the European Company Statute and its employee involvement provisions (adopted in October 2002 - EU0110203N).
However, there have been some positive examples of the development of employee participation arrangements. For instance, the INOFOR training institute ran a 'Paths to innovation' project during 2001, which sought to promote organisational innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises. One of the conditions for companies' involvement was the development of structures enabling the participation of employees in innovation (PT0106152F).
A number of significant developments took place in the area of new forms of work during 2001, in addition to the new legislation regulating fixed-term contracts (see above under 'Legislative developments').
In its guidelines for collective bargaining and pay policy in 2001/2, the UGT trade union confederation supports the development of a high and sustained level of 'good-quality' employment. It argues that trade unions should seek to transfer their major objectives, in terms of national employment policy, to the collective bargaining arena, with particular reference to the creation of jobs, the fight against precarious employment and the strengthening of equality of opportunity in general and, in particular, between men and women. Negotiating the regulation of new forms of work, notably teleworking and home working, constitutes one of the key areas for trade union action.
The CGTP union confederation's 2002 manifesto also defends the promotion of 'high-quality' employment, involving the fight against precarious and clandestine employment and seeking guarantees of contractual stability. According to CGTP, the promotion of high-quality employment should include:
In terms of the incidence of new forms of work, there was a slight increase in 2001 in the number of workers with a permanent full-time contract (up 0.4%) and an increase of 13% in the incidence of full-time fixed-term contracts. There was a 23.3% decrease in the number of part-time workers and a 14% increase in the number of workers with 'service contracts' and independent workers.
As far as teleworking is concerned, the Portuguese Association for the Development of Telework (Associação de Língua Portuguesa para o Desenvolvimento do Teletrabalho) stated in 2001 that there are 100,000 Portuguese making a living from telework, working in services and the private sector. Of these:
Two factors are thought to be hindering the diffusion of telework in the country:
In view of the economic situation and the absence of an economic and social modernisation plan in Portugal, 2002 is anticipated with a degree of pessimism in terms of employment. Already at the end of 2001, a large number of company closures, above all in the textiles and footwear sectors, were being announced. In terms of pay, the first signs are that wage bargaining will be difficult in 2002 – the loss of workers' purchasing power in 2001, due to an unexpectedly high level of inflation, and calls from the Bank of Portugal for wage moderation are two important factors to be dealt with. Finally, debate on productivity and the organisation of working time is expected to intensify in 2002.