“It seems to me that the atmosphere at this moment is much more relaxed than it was a few weeks ago. That is good and positive,” he said, noting that the upcoming general strike on December 11 “is not a major drama” and “social dialogue and negotiation can continue or resume after the strike,” as “it is good for the country and for everyone.”
The candidate for the Presidency of the Republic in the elections next January was the guest speaker at a luncheon-debate organized today by the Portuguese Business Confederation (CIP), held at a hotel in Lisbon.
In his speech, Luís Marques Mendes advised those involved in the negotiations to operate with a “transformative and reformative objective, yes, but based on dialogue, negotiation, and balance,” asserting that “it is the best solution for everyone.”
The former minister and PSD leader also argued that this reform should “be carried out on the basis of a social agreement” between employers and workers, and called for an understanding with UGT.
“I believe it is of paramount importance for the country. First, legislation made with social agreement lasts longer, legislation approved without social agreement is more precarious, and a change in government usually leads to its repeal. And I believe we need stability, longevity, and predictability in this domain,” he indicated.
Marques Mendes also suggested that in the current political and parliamentary context, changes of this nature require negotiations, warning that “in such matters, everything is more complicated,” and “with a social agreement, everything is less complex.”
The candidate further argued that with a social agreement “it is easier to prevent issues like those that have occurred in other labor changes in the past, which are interventions that sometimes can be quite harmful, from the Constitutional Court.”
For the social-democrat, this is a “legitimate reform.”
“It is one of those reforms that I believe is legitimate to undertake in a time like the one we are living in. It is completely legitimate and normal, within the logic that these reforms should indeed be carried out calmly and smoothly, at times when we are not stressed, as we were, for example, during the pandemic or the ‘troika’ period,” he stated.
Luís Marques Mendes argued that a reform of labor legislation is justified “with balance,” “just think about all the changes in the digital field, artificial intelligence, teleworking, and all the others that are happening and will happen.”
