The review of labor legislation is expected to return to the Portuguese political agenda, after the process launched by the Government failed to gather consensus in social dialogue. In a debate promoted by Jornal Económico at AIP, Miguel Cabrita, from PS, and Paulo Seco, from Chega, converged on the need to resume discussing reform, but diverged on priorities and on how the process should be conducted.
Paulo Seco, from Chega, stated that the Labor Code is not dead and argued that the discussion should return to the negotiating table, either within the scope of the State Budget or at another point during the legislature. The parliamentarian considered that businesses continue to need changes in labor legislation to meet flexibility needs, but criticized the fact that the process started backwards, with the Government should have first heard political parties and only then proceeded to social dialogue.
Miguel Cabrita, former Secretary of State for Employment and PS MP, also argued that labor legislation is not immutable and that there are matters that need to be reviewed. However, his criticism focused mainly on the process chosen by the Executive, considering that some of the proposals presented were too profound to have emerged without prior preparation and without a sufficiently shared diagnosis. Cabrita also argued that it is necessary to strengthen the representational capacity of business associations and trade unions.
On wages, the two deputies also had different positions. Seco placed the wage issue at the center of the discussion and considered that it is not possible to separate labor reform from the fiscal and contributory burden on businesses, noting that employer contributions to Social Security represent 23.75%. Cabrita agreed that wages are a fundamental issue, but refused that labor legislation alone can solve Portugal's economic competitiveness problems, arguing that Portugal needs to act on the economy's specialization, the size of companies, worker qualification and technology.
