Portuguese bank submits draft company-level agreement to workers

A draft agreement submitted in August 1997 by the BCP/BPA banking group to the trade unions is part of a strategy being followed nowadays by a number of Portuguese companies. The strategy, which has on occasion aroused union protests, decentralises the regulation of working conditions through formal or informal company-level agreements.

The Banco Comercial Português (BCP)/Banco Português do Atlântico (BPA) group has unexpectedly refused to sign the final draft of the banking sector's multi-employer agreement, preferring instead to submit a draft company-level agreement to trade unions in August 1997. This move has raised the issue of collective bargaining levels in Portugal.

Portuguese legislation does not restrict freedom of choice of level for collective bargaining - company, sector or occupation are all possible, as well as "articulated bargaining" (in which terms and conditions are bargained at different levels according to their topic). In fact the last-named type of bargaining has never been used, whilst the company-level agreement has been the model for public enterprises. However, the legal right to such autonomy in collective bargaining, when applied to more than one union covering the same employees within the same geographical territory, along with the growing number of employers' associations in recent years, have given rise to confusion and human resource management problems at company level.

For this reason, the position taken by the BCP/BPA Group may stand to open a new phase in collective bargaining in Portugal.