PS deputy Miguel Cabrita criticized on Monday, at the conference "The Labor Law Reform: changes to labor legislation," organized by Jornal Económico at AIP – Associação Industrial Portuguesa, in Lisbon, the way the current Government conducted the labor reform process. Cabrita considered that the executive ended up placing labor reform at the center of an economic transformation that would require a much broader strategy, stating that "it was accelerating towards the wall." The socialist recalled that labor laws are not immutable and have undergone significant changes over the past 25 years, but argued that a reform of the magnitude presented should have been preceded by studies, assessment, and a clearer diagnosis of the problems it intended to solve.
For Miguel Cabrita, labor legislation can and should continue to be discussed, but it cannot be presented as the answer to all of the country's economic problems. The deputy noted that competitiveness and productivity depend not only on the rules that frame work, but also on the economy's specialization profile, the size of companies, worker qualification and training, and the incorporation of technology. "We cannot use labor laws to avoid making changes in everything else," he stated, arguing that Portugal needs a true strategic vision that combines different instruments and mobilizes different actors.
Miguel Cabrita also considered that the process lacked a sufficiently solid political legitimacy base, since some of the proposed changes were not clearly anticipated in the AD's electoral program and emerged a few months after the elections. The socialist made a point of distinguishing his criticism of the process from his personal assessment of the responsible minister, emphasizing he has "immense personal, political, and intellectual respect" for the official, but considered that the reform was not prepared with the degree of transparency, assessment, and dialogue necessary to build broader political and social support.
In his speech, Cabrita also spoke about the need to strengthen social dialogue and business and trade union associations, considered that Portugal faces a different economic reality from the years of the financial crisis, and advocated for a more selective approach in the fiscal area, focused on investment, company capitalization, training, and innovation. He emphasized that employment is at historical highs, wages are rising, and the level of social conflict is not comparable to that of 2011, 2012, or 2013, arguing that this reality should allow for a different discussion about labor legislation.
