The recent agreement between unions affiliated with UGT and the Portuguese Association of Private Hospitals (APHP) regarding the new collective labor agreement for sector professionals is under scrutiny.
Last Friday, the Union of Workers in Hospitality, Tourism, Restaurants, and Similar Industries of the North (STIHTRSN) criticized the accord, arguing that it “entails a series of rights reductions for the workers.”
Criticisms include accusations by the union, part of the Federation of Workers in Agriculture, Food, Beverages, Hospitality, and Tourism of Portugal (FESAHT) and linked to CGTP-IN, that CUF and the APHP are imposing 12-hour work shifts, though CUF stated it complies with the law.
In a statement, UGT dismissed the criticisms, accusing the union of “alarmism” and “union populism,” emphasizing that the new agreement “does not take away rights” but “significantly improves working conditions and salaries” and was negotiated “responsibly.”
According to the union center led by Mário Mourão, “salary increases in 2025 and 2026 go well beyond those applied in 2024” and “are widespread across all professional categories, including healthcare technicians, administrative staff, maintenance, and catering personnel.”
UGT provides an example, noting that a specialist medical support worker will earn 985 euros in 2026, compared to the 885 euros agreed upon for 2024 with CGTP, marking an 11.3% increase.
The new agreement “maintains extra pay for supplementary, night, and holiday work, with bonuses that can reach 100% per hour,” the statement notes, emphasizing that compensatory rest for supplementary and night work continues to be protected.
The union structure further states that the collective labor agreement expressly provides that “no harm should result from the contract’s application for the workers,” including salary reductions, demotions, or elimination of permanent benefits, and it maintains or improves shift subsidies, holiday payments, and night work bonuses from previous agreements.
Regarding adaptability and a working hours bank, UGT reminds that these tools “are present in numerous sectors and can only be applied with a worker’s written agreement, thereby far from imposing any ‘obligation to work 12 consecutive hours.’”
UGT argues that these measures enable “better resource management and greater predictability for the worker, especially in contexts with rotating schedules like healthcare.”
