The official agenda for the meeting indicates that there will be interventions from business confederations and trade unions, as well as discussions on “other matters,” without specifying any specific topic, in addition to presenting institutional greetings.
This will be the first meeting of social partners in the Permanent Commission for Social Dialogue (CPCS) with the new Government, the second led by Luís Montenegro, and will also include the presence of the Minister of Labor, Solidarity, and Social Security, Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho, the Minister of State and Finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, the Minister of Economy and Territorial Cohesion, Manuel Castro Almeida, and the Minister of Agriculture and Sea, José Manuel Fernandes.
The revision of labor legislation is one of the issues expected to be discussed during the Social Dialogue, given that the government’s program includes several measures in this area and the topic had been anticipated, but the political crisis delayed the discussion.
In the government program, the executive opened the door to providing “greater flexibility in taking vacations on the initiative of the worker,” with the possibility of purchasing vacation days, “with a limit to be contractually defined between the parties.”
Currently, the Labor Code stipulates that “the annual vacation period has a minimum duration of 22 working days,” although it allows for additional days to be added through collective bargaining.
As part of a labor law revision, the Government also aims to “more adequately balance” the right to strike “with the fulfillment of indispensable social needs.”
This change, admitted by the Prime Minister himself during the electoral campaign in early May, has drawn criticism from unions.
Meanwhile, during the initial phase of presenting the XXV Constitutional Government’s program in parliament, Luís Montenegro stated that the changes the Government intends to introduce aim to ensure “the possibility of having guaranteed minimum services” and to “reconcile rights” without “offending” workers.
Another change the Government intends to introduce concerns giving workers the choice between receiving holiday and Christmas bonuses in twelfths or the traditional way, as well as “clarifying, de-bureaucratizing, and simplifying” various regimes such as parenthood, telework, work time organization, establishment transfer, lay-off, and work process.
Besides labor legislation, the tripartite agreement on salary appreciation and economic growth 2025-2028, signed in October, envisaged discussions on other matters in the Social Dialogue, such as health and safety at work, professional training, sustainability of Social Security, administrative reorganization and modernization, and the status of tax benefits.
In statements, employers’ confederations also indicated their desire for topics like economic modernization and immigration to be included in the agenda of Social Dialogue.
