There is no agreement on labor law. Now will the Government be “responsible”?

Minister accuses UGT of not giving in on anything, UGT says that CIP had no proposal, Livre expects responsibility from the Government.

“All negotiations have a fim. The end was today.”

This was the limit announced by the Minister of Labor: either there was an agreement after this Thursday’s meeting, or the Government would still go to Parliament with its amendments to the labor law

Almost 10 months after the presentation of the draft Work XXI, and after around 60 meetings, there is no agreement in the Social Concertation.

“We have closed the negotiation process. Unfortunately, it was not possible to reach an agreement, despite all the efforts made by the Government.”

The statements were made by Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho, after the long-awaited meeting at Palácio das Laranjeiras that lasted around an hour and a half.

The minister accused the UGT of intransigence: said that, despite “numerous concessions from the Government” and (from the CIP – Portuguese Business Confederation), the trade union federation led by Mário Mourão “did not give in on any point”. “One of the partners was absolutely intransigent,” he added.

The UGT – General Union of Workers has a different version: “The CIP did not present any proposal”.Mário Mourão commented to journalists that UGT does not negotiate proposals that only appear in the media.

The leader said that the Government assumed that in these negotiations it would not give up on the “main pillars” of the proposal.

In writing, at the Social Concertation meeting itself, the UGT criticized the Government for undermining trust during negotiations with a “constant advance and retreat” in the proposals.

“Responsibility”

Now, and as announced, the Government goes the same take a bill to the Assembly of the Republic.

The Minister of Labor reinforced that she will take “this final decision” to the Prime Minister, adding that the Government will evaluate very quickly the transformation of the draft bill into a law proposal, precisely so that the process “continues” to be debated and voted on by deputies.

But Livre hopes that moment never comes. “Our appeal is that the Government be responsible and understand what is at stake with this labor legislation, with this entire process, with the level of contestation and do not bring the labor package to Parliament”, stated Isabel Mendes Lopes.

While accusing the Government of being intransigent and arrogant, the Livre deputy commented that “these will not be changes that will last over time and this is also not good for the country, having changes to our labor legislation that are not stable and predictable and therefore our appeal is for the Government to be responsible”.

No preferences

The PSD later said, through Hugo Soares, that it will negotiate “without preferred partners to your left or right.”

Common message to PS: “The fact that the PS says it is unavailable for dialogue, because there is no agreement with the UGT, clearly demonstrates the way in which the UGT is instrumentalized by the PS.”

Regarding the Chega de demand, the PSD parliamentary leader warned: “The red lines shouldn’t even exist”, although he adds that his party is available to discuss everything, “without taboos”.