Police officers demand union rights and better working conditions

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In January 1999, organisations representing the personnel of Portugal's PSP municipal police force reaffirmed their calls for full trade union rights and improvements in working conditions. The organisations accuse the government of dragging its feet over legislation to reform the force.

In Portugal, the debate on trade union freedoms and the right to strike for police officers is still on the agenda, although the issue has already been resolved in some other European countries. At present, Law No. 6/90 and Law No. 5/90, both of 20 February 1990, lay down the rights of the personnel of the municipal police force (Polícia de Segurança Pública, PSP) and admit the possibility of forming national professional associations, though without fully applying legislation on trade union rights (PT9705118F). In this context, representatives of PSP staff submitted a list of issues for negotiation to the minister of the interior in November 1998, covering:

• trade union law and the right to strike;

• professional status restructuring the career ladder and pay scales;

• bonuses for shift, emergency on-call and regular on-call work (demanding that the normal civil service regime be applied);

• revision of retirement provisions for police personnel (cases have been confirmed where, even though all the conditions have been met, a pension has not been granted);

• the fact that the professional associations were not consulted or provided with information regarding changes to the police disciplinary regulations; and

• improved facilities.

The central issue is the delay over the framework law for the PSP, which has already been approved in Parliament and is awaiting official publication by the President of the Republic. This framework law, which aims to change the PSP' s basic structure, is the target of criticism because it has not yet been published, and also because the specific details of the law were debated without consulting the associations representing police workers.

The third meeting of the "forum of police associations" was held on 15 January 1999. Various professional associations representing PSP personnel were present, including the National Association of PSP Deputy Chiefs (Associação Nacional de Subchefes da PSP, ANS/PSP), the Association of Professional Police Officers (Associação dos Profissionais de Polícia, APP), the Association of Police Officers (Associação dos Oficiais de Polícia, AOP), and the Police Officers' Training Course Alumni Association (Associação dos Antigos Alunos do Curso dos Oficiais de Polcía, AAACFOP). Although it was not present owing to changes in leadership, the Social-Professional Police Officers Association (Associação Sócio-Profissional da Polícia, ASPP), which is the most representative organisation for professional police officers with about 12,000 members, shares in the forum's demands. General dissatisfaction over the government's alleged "passivity" was publicly vented at the meeting, though the government denies dragging its heels, maintaining that this is the normal course of the negotiation process. A commission was formed to try to obtain an audience with the minister in charge.

With regard to trade union law, the government says it will present legislation to the Council of Ministers for approval once the framework law is published. The police associations, however, are somewhat doubtful about whether it will be able to obtain the two-thirds vote necessary for approval.