“I will propose, actually I will do this today, I haven’t done it yet, honestly, but I will do it today to the prime minister (…) that we create a joint delegation to analyze changes to labor law so that, in September, we can proceed with this in a thoughtful and, let’s say, self-contained manner,” stated the leader of Chega, in Évora.
Speaking to journalists before a meeting with local officials and municipal election candidates for the party, in light of the municipal elections scheduled for October 12, the president of Chega criticized certain points of the Government’s draft proposal for labor law reform.
“Chega will not accept the end or limitation of gestational bereavement. This makes no sense. We are facing a demographic problem; we cannot further punish mothers and attack the birth rate in our country”, he argued.
Additionally, he continued, the Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho, “raised the issue of fraud in breastfeeding without any basis for it”.
“She says there is fraud, and therefore, because there’s fraud, let’s end the extended right to breastfeeding. Chega will not contribute, and I wanted to make this clear, either to limit the right to breastfeeding or to limit gestational bereavement,” Ventura asserted.
The leader of Chega acknowledged “the need for labor law to be more flexible; the economy needs to grow, and we cannot have laws from the 1970s,” yet “this does not mean attacking mothers.”
Portugal, he insisted, has “a demographic problem” and “a birth rate problem,” and, thus, “one should not further attack mothers and families.”
“And what the Government is doing is an attack, even more so without any economic justification, without any economic reasonability, on mothers and families,” he reiterated, ensuring that, on one hand, “Chega will not allow it,” but on the other, it does not intend to be “a blocking force.”
Therefore, André Ventura revealed that he will “propose today to the Prime Minister [Luís Montenegro] that a joint delegation be established for the analysis of changes to labor law between Chega and the PSD,” so that in September, it will be possible “to advance quickly with this.”
“I hope that the Government backtracks on this matter because there are other points where we can have dialogue,” and it is necessary “to modernize our laws,” but do not count on Chega “for attacks on families and mothers,” he emphasized.
When asked if the PS could also be part of this commission, Ventura dismissed the possibility because, in his opinion, the Socialists will not accept “any changes to the law.”
In an interview with TSF and Jornal de Notícias, the Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security stated that some mothers abuse the right to be excused from work for breastfeeding their children and found it difficult to comprehend that children over two years need to be breastfed during working hours.
The draft proposal for labor legislation reform, which, according to the Government, foresees the revision of “more than a hundred articles of the Labor Code,” has already been presented to social partners and will be negotiated within the framework of Social Dialogue.
The statements by the Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security about alleged abuses in the right to breastfeeding have sparked controversy. Women’s defense associations denounce the “misinformation” from the minister.
Beatriz Vasconcelos | 08:55 – 04/08/2025
