On 5 September 2007, at the Standing Committee for Social Concertation (Comissão Permanente de Concertação Social, CPCS [1]), the government presented a number of proposals in line with its reform of active employment policies. The proposals prioritise measures to combat precarious employment, by
The new Portuguese law on Temporary Agency Work – Law No.19/2007 – allows a more flexible and extensive use of temporary employment contracts by enterprises, compared with the previous legislation (see EIRO thematic feature on temporary agency work in Portugal (138Kb MS Word doc) [1]). In particular
At the start of the new academic year in September 2007, the Portuguese Minister of Education, Maria de Lurdes Rodrigues, and the trade unions representing teachers clashed over the annual nationwide application process for teachers’ jobs in primary and secondary schools and the placement of
On 18 July 2007, all of the employer confederations represented at the tripartite Standing Committee for Social Concertation (Comissão Permanente de Concertação Social, CPCS [1]) adopted a common position on the reform of the Labour Code. The organisations involved included the Confederation of
A new system of performance appraisal has been under negotiation between the government and the trade unions represented in the public sector, in addition to the ongoing reform of employment relations, careers and mobility in the sector (*PT0705019I* [1], *PT0706069I* [2]) The negotiations led to an
On 27 June 2007, the White Paper Commission (Comissão do Livro Branco das Relações Laborais) presented a first draft of the White Paper on labour legislation reform (*PT0606019I* [1]) to the social partners who are represented on the tripartite Standing Commission for Social Concertation (Comissão
During recent months, negotiations in the public sector were focused on the draft bill proposed by the government on 19 April 2007 (*PT0705019I* [1]) on a new system of employment relations, careers and wages for the public sector (*PT0702059I* [2]). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories
On 7 May 2007, the President of the Confederation of Portuguese Industry (Confederação da Indústria Portuguesa, CIP [1]), Francisco van Zeller, presented an important statement focusing on the reform of the Labour Code, which is presently in preparation (*PT0606019I* [2]). The statement was
On 30 May 2007, a national day of general strike action took place (*PT0704049I* [1]), organised by the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses, CGTP [2]) in protest at the policies of the socialist government. The assessment of the impact of the
The national day of general strike action against the policies of the socialist government that took place on 30 May 2007 (PT0706029I [1]) has focused attention on government attempts to limit, through indirect measures, workers’ right to strike. These measures included the definition of minimum