Fundamental rights related to social partners

Participants in this session agreed that the protection provided under law to social partners was good, and that Portugal had an excellent track record as far as the ratification and implementation of the main International Labour Conventions (ILO) was concerned. It was agreed that social partners supported employers and workers quite well – including through genuine trade union efforts to reach out to groups such as platform and migrant workers – and that they enjoyed a strong legitimacy on the national stage. Social dialogue was solid and covered a wide range of issues, which helped the country through various crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Social dialogue was both bipartite and tripartite, leading to a good number of collective agreements covering a great number of employees. The Portuguese authorities confirmed that they took social dialogue into consideration and pointed to several initiatives in that area, including the Economic and Social Council (CES) and the publication of draft laws in the Labour and Employment Bulletin issued by the Ministry of Labour addressed to the social partners.

Social partners, however, felt that their participation in decision-making should be increased. They believed that their involvement in preparing Portugal's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) had been insufficient. They also felt that they were consulted too late in the process, and mostly in an informal way, without the possibility of having a significant impact on the content of the plan. A similar reflexion was made in relation to the implementation of the European Social Fund in Portugal.

Some participants pointed to challenges in the area of collective bargaining resulting from an update of the Labour Code in 2003. That revision had allowed for expirations to be set to once open-ended agreements, which trade union representatives felt put in question the voluntary aspect of collective bargaining, and meant that agreements could come to an end without proper reason. A representative 2/7 for employers underlined that the expiration of a collective agreement did not affect the continuity of the worker protection in areas such as social protection, allowances, or safety at the workplace.

Some participants believed that there was a gap between the legal framework and the actual protection of trade union rights in companies. Some workers were reluctant to acknowledge their affiliation with a trade union, which hindered trade unions' ability to obtain effective representation in some companies. It was also mentioned that some companies used the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to complicate contacts between workers and trade unions not represented in their company.

One participant brought up the pressures put on trade unionists specifically aimed to limit strikes, which would also affect their career development. An example given was resorting to temporary staff to neutralise the effects of planned strikes. Trade union representatives believed the minimum service rule infringed workers' right to go on strike, while employers' representatives were in favour of the rule. Employers' representatives also lamented that some strikes involved topics which were not directly in their hands.

Employer and worker representatives did not agree on the impact of the EU Directive on minimum wages, referring to questions of subsidiarity, the European Court of Justice's ability to intervene in matters concerning national salaries, and the risk of putting a cap on salaries in a country where wages are already low – with the minimum wage close to the poverty line. The Portuguese authorities indicated that Portugal already complied with most aspects of the Directive, and that they intended to continue and reinforce social dialogue when implementing the text, in line with the recent Medium-term agreement to improve incomes, wages and competitiveness between the government and social partners.

The work of labour inspectors was considered essential for ensuring the proper implementation of labour laws, however participants regretted that these services lacked the time and human resources to properly carry out their duties. The Portuguese authorities acknowledged these challenges and spoke of the recent recruitments to face them.