The PCP deputy then maintained that the PSD/CDS executive intends to establish in Portugal a model of low wages, precariousness, with deregulation of people’s lives, through, above all, the deregulation of working hours.
“It is a reform that makes a clean slate of the rights enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic and that should go in the trash can. The PCP here is coherent and firm. The workers know who they are counting on”he declared.
An intervention that subsequently merited harsh responses from Chega and the PSD, with social-democratic deputy Carla Barros countering that “the blocking vision of the economy and development characteristic of the PCP must go to the trash can”.
Carla Barros made a point of pointing out that the “Work XXI” package is being discussed as part of social consultation, which involves a dialogue with worker representatives. “But the PCP does not respect social agreement”concluded the social democratic deputy.
The PCP deputy responded that the Minister of Labor has already warned that, even without an agreement in social consultation, she will approve the review of labor laws in the Assembly of the Republic, where there is a majority PSD/CDS, Chega and Liberal Initiative.
The harshest criticisms of the communist bench came from Chega deputy Bruno Nunes. He said that, on the eve of discussing the Budget, “the threat of taking the hammer and sickle always appears”.
“You are the ones who fuel subsidization, you are the ones who are involved in the labor laws in force and which make management difficult. You should have been abolished by now”stated Bruno Nunes.
In the opposite direction, the parliamentary leader of Livre, Isabel Mendes Lopes, criticized the reform projected by the Government, especially for not taking into account technological advances, even considering that, if it comes to fruition, it will undermine not only workers’ rights, but also family life.
On the PS’s side, Hugo Oliveira accused the Government of “disloyalty” for having omitted the issue of reviewing labor laws during the last campaign for the legislative elections. He then promised to oppose the socialists to this package of measures from the PSD/CDS executive.
“The PS is not an immobilist party and the changes it made to labor laws when it was in Government benefited workers”advocated Hugo Oliveira, in an allusion to the “Agenda for Decent Work” of the executives led by António Costa.
Also critical of the Government, Inês de Sousa Real, PAN deputy, said that in 2024, five pregnant women were fired per day, while Left Bloc deputy, Andreia Galvão, highlighted “the wave of layoffs” in the textile and footwear sectors and in companies such as Teleperformance.