During the opening ceremony of the Socialist Women’s summer school in Almada, José Luís Carneiro criticized the labor legislation amendments proposed by the government, stating they are ill-conceived and have even raised concerns among traditional unions.
“Why? Because there is a trick related to issues of breastfeeding and gestational mourning. These elements were introduced for discussion only to be dropped later in negotiations, portraying a gesture of good faith from the government,” warned José Luís Carneiro.
The PS Secretary-General noted that the Minister of Labor, Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho, has expressed willingness to drop these two proposals. Meanwhile, Chega leader André Ventura showed openness to approving the labor legislation amendments if these proposals were excluded.
“This is just a trick to navigate towards the more fundamental aspects of labor legislation,” he emphasized.
Regarding Chega’s stance, José Luís Carneiro suggested the party is taking this approach to form a significant union movement backed by large economic interests aiming to disrupt fundamental balances.
“The best way to disrupt these balances is by deconstructing traditional forms of union representation, particularly the ones associated with the two main parties, like UGT, where PS and PSD are involved,” he pointed out.
Carneiro stressed that the labor legislation changes are a critical point for PS as they represent a setback for younger people, women balancing personal and professional lives, and are especially harmful to the vulnerable by failing to penalize undeclared work.
“This casts a shadow over domestic work, cleaning, agriculture, and construction. It feeds the informal economy, which is unacceptable,” he argued.
The PS Secretary-General reiterated the party’s commitment to achieving political stability and contributing to the viability of the State Budget. However, this requires the government to exclude labor issues from the budget proposal, along with matters related to the National Health Service law, Social Security, and tax issues.
Prior to José Luís Carneiro’s address, former PS Labor Minister Ana Mendes Godinho, now a candidate for the Sintra City Council in the October 12 local elections, also criticized the government’s labor law amendments, denouncing them as a “medieval agenda from the past.”
“It is an agenda of hopelessness and a brutal civilizational setback. The question is why? There seems to be no reason other than an ideological bias to dismantle what was achieved. It is an agenda of anger against the people,” she accused, voicing a warning similar to José Luís Carneiro’s regarding the breastfeeding proposal.
“It is a grave regressive measure, but let’s not allow it to become a smokescreen. Focusing solely on one measure that could serve as a smokescreen might let a whole set of aggressive measures against workers pass unnoticed,” she warned.
