Lisbon, March 10, 2026 (Lusa) - The Portuguese Trade and Services Confederation (CCP) has said that negotiations on the proposed new labour legislation are not expected to continue after it proved impossible to reach an agreement, and it is now up to the Government to take a position.
"It is not planned. The government will now define its position: whether it will take the legislation to parliament and in what format, whether the initial one or whether some contributions will be incorporated. That is where we are at," said the CCP trade union leader, João Vieira Lopes, in statements to Lusa on Monday evening.
However, João Vieira Lopes assured that if the Government decides to reopen the negotiation process, the CCP is available to continue negotiating.
The Confederation also argued that, given "historical experience", when there are agreements on labour matters in the context of labour consultation, it is always easier for them to pass in parliament without amendments.
Although it was not possible to reach an agreement, Vieira Lopes stressed that the confederations made a number of concessions on various issues, and "points of balance" were achieved.
However, at Monday's meeting, the UGT union confederation stated that the progress made was not sufficient and, therefore, the confederations decided that there was no point in spending more time on negotiations, "which are always difficult and sometimes painful".
The leader of the employers confederation (CIP), Armindo Monteiro, told RTP Notícias that negotiations on the labour package had ended without agreement and blamed the UGT for the lack of understanding.
"It is the UGT's responsibility that there is no agreement," said the CIP leader, referring to the technical meeting that took place on Monday at the Ministry of Labour between the social partners, which ended without an agreement being reached.
Armindo Monteiro stated that "it is unusual to see the UGT take the attitude it did" during the negotiation process for the labour reform proposed in July 2025 by the Government.
"The UGT did not need to pretend that it was entering into a negotiation process that it did not want to do," added the CIP leader.
The government accused the UGT of being "absolutely intransigent" in the negotiations on labour reform, promising to "make every effort to reach an agreement," a government source told Lusa.
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Lusa
