Trade union agendas for 2002 focus on wages, working time and income redistribution

Both UGT and CGTP have:

• expressed concerns about the possibility that the introduction of euro notes and coins in January 2002 may increase inflation, given that many companies and retail outlets are already converting their prices and rounding them up, to the detriment of consumers;

• highlighted the need to make better use of the workforce and improve workers' qualifications in order to increase productivity;

• stressed the fight against job insecurity and illegal working situations in order to foster high-quality employment;

• demanded that working hours should be reduced to 35 hours per week;

• called for the promotion of equality at the workplace and in access to jobs and training; and

• highlighted health and safety in the workplace, in order to try and reduce high workplace accident figures

CGTP and UGT also believe that it is essential to eliminate current obstacles to collective bargaining (PT0108162F), which would achieve an improvement in the industrial relations system

UGT's priority goals

The main points of UGT's guidelines for collective bargaining and its demands with regard to incomes policy, taxation policy and social protection for 2002 are as follows:

• there is a need for the government to fix a realistic figure for inflation in 2002 in order to guarantee that pay increases will also be realistic, as the negotiation of wage increases will be based mainly on this reference point. The UGT pay proposals are based on an estimated price rise of 3.5% in 2002, an increase in productivity of 2.4% and a partial compensation for loss of purchasing power by workers in 2001 as a result of the rise in inflation above the forecast level;

• the government should follow an incomes policy that will continue efforts to eliminate increasing inequalities in the distribution of wealth within the country and to promote faster economic and social convergence with the rest of the European Union;

• there should be a pay increase of 5.5 % for public servants and 5.5% to 6.5% for the private sector, varying according to the situation of particular companies and sectors;

• there should be a 7.7 % rise in the statutory minimum wage for agriculture, industry and services (currently PTE 67,000 per month) and a 12.2 % increase for domestic workers (currently PTE 64,300 per month). The effect would be to standardise the two minimum wages at PTE 72,174 (EUR 360) per month;

• increases in family benefits should vary between 5.5% for family support and 8% for disability benefit;

• personal income tax brackets should be updated on the basis of the need for partial compensation for the devaluation of workers' pay caused by the difference between the inflation forecast by the government and actual inflation in September 2001. For expected inflation of 3.5 %, UGT demands an expansion of 6% in income tax brackets; and

• working time should be reduced to 35 hours a week in a framework of more flexible working hours, in order to reconcile working hours with the needs of family life.

UGT believes that it is essential to eliminate current obstacles to collective bargaining in order to achieve the following objectives:

• promoting a high level of sustained, good quality employment;

• promoting effective equal opportunities; and

• ensuring better articulation between the various mechanisms and actions of the industrial relations system.

CGTP's priority goals

CGTP's strategy reflects a perceived need to articulate demands on pay and various other forms of remuneration for work with other demands, in areas such as taxation policy, working hours, holidays, health, social security, education, training and qualification, hygiene, health and safety, equality, social inclusion and workers' rights.

On pay and tax, CGTP proposes:

• wage increases that take into account inflation, productivity, pay losses in 2001 due to inflation and convergence with the EU average. It therefore advocates a minimum increase of 6% for 2002;

• this reference figure should not be considered universal or applicable to all demands, because, in some sectors and companies, it is fair to consider higher pay rises as a result of specific situations. Furthermore, in other cases, lower wages should grow by more; and

• there should be more progression in income tax rates, reducing taxation in the two lowest brackets. It requests an increase in the limits for tax deductions for social expenses.

Commentary

As usual, the trade unions are preparing for annual pay talks. Negotiations on wages are more and more being connected to other demands of an economic nature, or those concerning quality of life. These lists of demands were presented at the same time as an announcement that there have been delays and difficulties in the work of the Standing Committee for Social Concertation (Comissão Permanente de Concertação Social, CPCS) of the Economic and Social Council (Conselho Económico e Social, CES) in preparing a national agreement on productivity and pay, which was supposed to be completed in October 2001 (PT0001179F). (Ana Almeida and Maria Luisa Cristovam, UAL)