The Minister of Labor, Solidarity, and Social Security, Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho, stated on Wednesday that the government has no red lines in the labor review and is open to solutions, but warned that the Executive is not willing to buy social peace at any cost.
“The government is open to all constructive solutions, but let me be clear: it will not pursue social peace at any price today, it will not buy a consensus today to face a bigger problem tomorrow. This government is reformist, here to solve the Portuguese people’s problems. It has been reformist since day one,” said the minister in statements to RTP.
The issue at hand is the draft labor law revision, approved by the government at the end of July, which has been under discussion with social partners since last week.
“We have no red lines”
The official reiterated that, in this negotiation, the government has not set red lines but assured that the goal is to maintain the guidelines of the draft presented to the partners.
“We have no red lines, and the methodology we adopted reflects this. The government formally approved a draft, which is a working basis, and that is what we must work on. If there were red lines, the government would have approved a bill. That did not happen,” she explained.
However, she warned that “the government wants to maintain the project’s major guidelines because it firmly believes this is the path to increasing Portugal’s competitiveness.”
The official stated that it is a draft, which is “a working base to discuss the issues,” acknowledging it is a “deep reform” with “more than 100 changes to the Labor Code alone, while also altering more than eight other legal diplomas.”
“A working base to discuss the issues”
This week, the Minister of Labor, Solidarity, and Social Security had already assured that the government has no red lines in negotiating changes to labor legislation, hoping the opposition takes the same stance.
“The government has set no red lines, but it also expects the opposition not to do so, because a constructive dialogue indeed requires no red lines,” emphasized Rosário Palma Ramalho at the symbolic laying of the first stone for the construction of a daycare in the Santo André hospital in Leiria.
The official reiterated it is a draft, “a working base to discuss the issues,” acknowledging it comprises a “deep reform” with “over 100 changes only in the Labor Code, while also altering over eight other decrees.”
Rosário Palma Ramalho approaches “this process with great serenity” and believes “the social partners are also approaching it calmly, given that this government has had very good dialogue with the social partners for a year and a half now, and that will continue.”
The minister added that, being the draft a working base, “everything is on the table, provided the government maintains its guiding line with regard to this project, which is a path, on one hand, of flexibility of some very rigid labor regimes.”
“Portugal has a competitiveness and productivity deficit […], therefore it must recover. It has a low salary level, so solutions must be found for them to effectively rise.”
According to Rosário Palma Ramalho, “this is one of the main points.” Another point is “guaranteeing workers’ rights related to a set of matters, some of which were not as vocalized during the summer, but trade unions and confederations are aware they are there.”
Noting there will be “significant norms to promote and reinforce workers’ rights,” the official added that “another point is to strengthen collective bargaining and the role of trade unions and ensure the compatibility of the right to strike with the provision of urgent social services in a somewhat more balanced manner.”
“All of this is on the table. As long as this guiding line is maintained, norm A, B, or C, naturally, or all of them, can be refined as needed,” she stressed.
The government’s draft for labor legislation revision, presented at the end of July, began being debated with social partners last week.
