The official agenda for the meeting includes the sole topic of “monitoring the implementation of the tripartite agreement on salary appreciation and economic growth 2025-2028: Chapter V – labor legislation.”
The meeting, as usual, will be chaired by the Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho, and will take place at the headquarters of the Economic and Social Council (CES) at the Palácio das Laranjeiras in Lisbon. It is scheduled to start at 15:00.
In statements, both the Portuguese Business Confederation (CIP) and the Portuguese Confederation of Commerce and Services (CCP) have indicated they will ask the government to revoke the clause related to restrictions on ‘outsourcing’ (external labor contracting) following layoffs, claiming it “makes no sense” despite the Constitutional Court recently affirming its constitutionality at the beginning of the month.
This amendment to the Labor Code, effective from 2023, states that “it is not permitted to resort to acquiring external services to meet needs previously fulfilled by a worker whose contract was terminated within the preceding 12 months due to collective dismissal or job elimination dismissal.”
Meanwhile, trade unions assert they will fight “strongly” to maintain this clause, focusing on salary appreciation and the revocation of the expiration in collective bargaining.
Other changes that the government plans to introduce into labor law include allowing workers to choose whether to receive holiday and Christmas bonuses in installments or in the traditional manner, as well as efforts to “clarify, debureaucratize, and simplify” various regimes such as parenthood, teleworking, work time organization, transfer of establishment, ‘lay-off,’ and work process, according to the executive program.
