The Minister of Labor, Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho, has justified the absence of the CGTP in the so-called “work meetings” that it has called with the UGT and the employers’ associations to try to make new labor legislation viable – the content of which motivated a successful general strike, bringing together even the two rival union centrals – with an alleged fact that it declared to RTP and Lusa: the CGTP “did not want to negotiate” and “self-withdrawn” from the process.
The CGTP denies this, says that this supposed fact is a falsehood and has even come forward with a package of proposals that it wants to see discussed, publishing them on the same day that we all realized that the minister doesn’t even know how to manage a simple agenda of meetings, insisting on maintaining the call from employers and UGT for a meeting on a date that this trade union center had announced in advance that it would not be able to be present.
I had difficulty finding decent news about what, after all, the CGTP wants that would lead the minister to not even want to speak to these representatives of a large portion of Portuguese workers, so I went to the union center’s website to see what was being said there.
I thus realized that the CGTP, with whom the Government does not speak, denounces the even greater worsening of precariousness (which already affects almost half of the active population) and the progressive loss of workers’ rights that the labor measures defended by Palma Ramalho, if implemented, would cause.
I learned that the CGTP, with whom the Government does not speak, thinks that these measures only benefit employers to the detriment of the social well-being of those who work.
I learned that the CGTP, with whom the Government does not speak, sent the minister a set of proposals for labor legislation focused on reducing the working day to 35 hours, increasing the vacation period to 25 days, the urgent need to combat low wages and regulate new realities, such as teleworking and the use of algorithms in professional management.
I learned that the CGTP, with whom the Government does not speak, proposes the repeal of the 180-day trial period for young people looking for their first job and long-term unemployed people on open-ended contracts, defending the establishment of a 90-day trial period for the majority of workers.
I learned that the CGTP, with whom the Government does not speak, suggests that the conclusion of fixed-term contracts be limited only to situations involving the replacement of temporarily prevented workers or situations involving increased activity.
I learned that the CGTP, with whom the Government does not speak, defends the repeal of the regime for very short-term employment contracts, proposes limiting the signing of contracts for the use of temporary work and suggests that all legal standards for employees be applied to self-employed workers.
I learned that CGTP, with whom the Government does not speak, is asking for an increase in dismissal compensation to 30 days of basic pay for each year of seniority, as it was before the troika and Passos Coelho.
I learned that a relevant part of the proposals made by CGTP, with whom the Government does not speak, coincides with those of UGT, with whom the Government speaks.
I therefore learned that the government does not speak to the CGTP due to ideological prejudice, because it does not respect the institution of Social Concertation, because it has a weak vision of democracy and because it is trying to manipulate the UGT.
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