The Government presented its labour law reform proposal, 'Trabalho XXI', last summer, featuring over a hundred changes to the Labour Code. Despite numerous negotiation meetings, many held outside the Social Concertation framework, critical issues for workers remain unchanged after eight months, including the expansion of fixed-term contracts, the removal of reinstatement guarantees for illegal dismissals, and restrictions on trade union intervention. The author argues that this reform aims to reduce workers' rights and reverse the 'Agenda for Decent Work' without electoral mandate, failing to address modern challenges like digitalisation or AI. The text concludes by expressing hope that the Government will not seek support from the far-right to pass these measures and reflects on the recent electoral defeat of Viktor Orbán in Hungary as a potential turning point against global populism.
The labour law reform: an ideological choice by the Government
Context & Explainers
The General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers (CGTP – Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses) is Portugal’s largest trade-union confederation, grouping most unions in manufacturing, public services and many other sectors.
Founded clandestinely in 1970 as “Intersindical” under the dictatorship, it emerged publicly after the 1974 Carnation Revolution and was legalised in 1975. It has been central to virtually all major labour struggles since then, from defending collective bargaining and the 40‑hour week to leading general strikes against austerity and labour‑law rollbacks.
CGTP is historically close to the Portuguese Communist Party and has a class‑struggle, anti‑neoliberal profile, strongly critical of EU and government policies seen as undermining workers’ rights. It favours grassroots mobilisation and strikes over compromise, often refusing national social‑pact deals that the more centrist UGT is willing to sign.
In today’s Portugal, CGTP remains a key actor in wage bargaining, labour‑law debates and national protests; together with UGT it called the first joint general strike in years in December 2025, signalling its continuing capacity to organise mass action.
The General Union of Workers (UGT – União Geral de Trabalhadores) is one of Portugal’s two main national trade union confederations. Founded in Lisbon on 28 October 1978, it was created as a social‑democratic alternative to the more communist‑aligned CGTP after the 1974 Revolution, grouping unions close to the Socialist Party and moderate centre‑right currents.
UGT represents around 400,000 workers and is affiliated to the European Trade Union Confederation and International Trade Union Confederation, giving Portuguese labour a voice at EU and global level. Its principles stress union independence from the state, employers, churches and parties, internal democracy and active worker participation.
Historically, UGT’s hallmark has been “propositive” social dialogue: it is usually more willing than CGTP to sign tripartite agreements on wages, labour law and social policy with governments and employers, shaping minimum wage increases, working‑time rules and social protection reforms. This makes UGT a key centrist actor in Portugal’s industrial relations, often mediating between left and right while defending collective bargaining and incremental improvements to labour rights.
A banked hours scheme (banco de horas) is a flexible working time arrangement under Portuguese labor law that allows employees to accumulate overtime hours and use them later as time off, rather than receiving immediate overtime pay.
Under the Portuguese Labour Code, banked hours can be established through collective agreements or, in some cases, individual agreements. The scheme allows employers to vary working hours based on demand — requiring longer hours during peak periods and compensating with shorter hours or days off later.
Banked hours schemes are a frequent topic in labor reform negotiations, with unions (particularly CGTP) pushing for tighter limits and greater worker protections, while employers argue for more flexibility. Proposed reforms have included extending eligibility to parents of young children and adjusting the cap on banked hours.
RSS source
Other news coverage of this topic
- UGT 'far from an agreement' with the Government on labour reform • Correio da Manhã
- Government says "conditions" are met to conclude labour law negotiations • RTP Notícias
- CGTP schedules protest against labour law changes for this Friday • RTP Notícias
- Labour package in the final stretch, focusing on the bank of hours and continuous working day • Público
- Labour law: Social concertation was part I, to continue this Friday • Observador
