Lisbon, Dec. 9, 2025 (Lusa) - Next year in Portugal could see the entry into force of more than 100 amendments to the Labour Law, following a "thorough" review of labour legislation, covering areas such as contracts, working time management, parenting and dismissals.
The proposal, called "Work XXI", is still being discussed with the social partners (i.e. the government, employers and trade union representatives), but has already been met with a resounding “no” from the trade unions, who have announced a general strike for Thursday against the reform, in what will be the first joint strike since the "troika" (the group consisting of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which, in 2011, granted a financial loan to Portugal in exchange for the implementation of a rigorous economic and social austerity plan. This adjustment plan aimed to reduce the budget deficit and restore confidence in the financial markets).
While employers' associations applauded the reform, saying that "it is a good basis for negotiation" - even though they believe there is room for improvement - trade unions argue that it is a "civilisational setback" and an "attack on workers", as it weakens worker protection and unbalances labour relations in favour of employers.
Despite the criticism, the minister of labour has already said that the government "is not willing to withdraw the entire proposal" and that it wants to maintain the "main pillars", although it is open to dialogue.
After the announcement of the general strike, the ministry submitted a new proposal to the UGT trade union confederation, with some changes to the draft presented in July, but the trade union said it was "too little" to call off the strike.
In the document, to which Lusa had access, the government concedes on issues such as simplifying dismissals in medium-sized companies and reducing the number of compulsory training hours in micro-enterprises.
It frames the end of maternity leave for miscarriage within the context of termination of pregnancy leave and “adjusts” the proposals relating to the limitation of breastfeeding leave (maintaining the limit of two years) or the payment of holiday and Christmas bonuses as extra salaries, making the latter dependent on agreement between the employee and employer.
On the other hand, it opens the door to the reinstatement of the three days of holiday linked to attendance abolished by the “troika”, dropping the possibility for workers to request up to two additional days of holiday, with loss of pay.
It also proposes increasing compensation for collective dismissal from 14 to 15 days, as well as introducing continuous working hours in the private sector for parents with children up to 12 years old or, regardless of age, if they have a chronic illness, cancer or disability.
Despite these concessions, there are other issues that have been considered problematic for the UGT and CGTP trade unions which remain in the Government's draft bill.
This is the case with the return of individual working time accounts (a flexible agreement between employee and employer to compensate for extra or reduced hours worked, without overtime pay, exchanging them for rest or time off), the repeal of the rule restricting outsourcing in the event of dismissal, a measure that aims to make it more difficult to reinstate workers after unlawful dismissal, and changes to the law on strikes.
The minister said she would give the UGT more time to analyse the government's new proposal, while the union's leader acknowledged improvements but continued to say that the two sides were far from an agreement.
Although the government admits that an agreement in statutory tripartite talks between the government, employers and unions will give more strength to this proposal, the changes to the labour law will still have to pass through parliament, and the document will have to be put out for public consultation.
Palma Ramalho (Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security) has already warned that she "will not prolong" the negotiations in the tripartite talks between the government, employers and unions and that the Government will have to negotiate if it wants to move forward with a draft bill, given that it does not have a majority.
If the parties on the left have already spoken out against the changes, the proposal may still go ahead with the support of the right wing Chega Party, which has said it is willing to negotiate, although it is asking for concessions on issues such as "breastfeeding, overtime and shift work".
Until then, and as the country's president said, "the procession is still in the churchyard" in the statutory tripartite talks between the government, employers and unions, before heading to parliament. The amendments will have to be debated and negotiated in detail before going to the future president for consideration and possible promulgation. It remains to be seen who will succeed the outgoing president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
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