Labour Minister Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho has explained the exclusion of the CGTP from recent discussions on new labour legislation, claiming they chose not to negotiate. The CGTP refutes this, asserting they have proposed measures to address workers' rights and precarious employment. They criticize the government's approach, suggesting it favors employers and undermines social dialogue. Key proposals from the CGTP include reducing the workweek, increasing vacation days, and improving job security for vulnerable workers.
Why doesn't the Government talk to the CGTP?
Friday, 20 February 2026RSS
Context & Explainers
Rosário Palma Ramalho is Portugal’s Minister of Labour, responsible for labour policy, workplace regulation and negotiations with trade unions. Her statements today about the CGTP withdrawing from labour reform talks matter because they affect negotiation dynamics and can influence strikes or demonstrations that may disrupt public services and workplaces.
A banked hours scheme (commonly called banco de horas in Portuguese) lets employees store overtime or unused hours and use them later as paid time off instead of receiving immediate extra pay. The CGTP (Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses) proposal in its labour-review document would extend flexible working and the option to bank hours to parents with children up to 16, giving them more ability to adjust work time around family needs while hours are formally tracked.
A general strike is a coordinated, large-scale work stoppage across multiple sectors called by trade unions to press political or labour demands. The December 11, 2025 strike — the first in 13 years — disrupted transport, schools and many public services, and illustrated that strikes can cause major short-term interruptions while employees and public-service rules determine who can legally take part.
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.
AI Summary AvailableLabour minister says CGTP declined to negotiateRead the synthesized summary with context and explainers
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