Presidential elections took place in January 2001. Jorge Sampaio of the Socialist Party (Partido Socialista, PS) was elected President of the Portuguese Republic, obtaining 55.76% of the votes.
February 2002 saw the publication of two studies examining employment prospects and demand in the Portuguese labour market. One report on the likely employment situation in 2001 predicts increasing unemployment, though accompanied by a continuing need for new immigrant labour. The second study
In January 2002, the winners of Portugal's annual 'Equality is Quality' prize, awarded by the tripartite Commission for Equality in Work and Employment, were announced. The prize is designed to reward good practices by employers in promoting equality of opportunity for women and men. In 2002, the
In February 2002, the Portuguese national airline, TAP, announced greatly improved financial results for 2001, cutting its losses by half compared with 2000, and more than meeting the target set in its recovery plan. The results surprised many, given the current problems in the international airline
In November 2001, following months of negotiations, a social security reform agreement was signed by the Portuguese social partners and government. Changes to the calculation formula for pensions and a provision allowing employees to invest their pension contributions, above a certain ceiling, in
In September 2001, the two main Portuguese trade union confederations - the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers (Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses, CGTP) and General Workers' Union (União Geral de Trabalhadores, UGT) - presented their main demands and strategies for 2002. The
The 1993 EU Directive (93/104/EC) on certain aspects of the organisation of working time [1] excluded a number of sectors and activities from its scope, including road transport. A Directive (2000/34/EC) [2] extending the original working time Directive to previously excluded sectors and activities
The number of collective agreements concluded in Portugal in the first six months of 2001 increased by some 16% compared with the same period in 2000, and a degree of innovation was witnessed in the content of the agreements. However, the government and social partners are calling for changes to the
In summer 2001, addressing gender inequalities has been high on the agenda of the government and social partners in Portugal. In June, new legislation came into effect aimed at reinforcing mechanisms to monitor and punish discriminatory employment practices, and at measuring the progress being made
In June 2001, Portugal's Institute for Innovation in Training (INOFOR) assessed a project it had been running on "Paths to innovation", which sought to promote organisational innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Such innovation is thought to be rare in Portugal. Notable points