The lack of company-level bargaining in Portugal

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Here we highlight two cases of company-level negotiations in Portugal over working hours and revision of wages. There is a relative lack of knowledge in Portugal about the scope and content of such informal, company-level collective bargaining, and of the significance of this type of bargaining for the country's industrial relations.

Under the provisions of the "40-hour Law" (Law No. 21/96 of 23 July 1996), working time in Portugal has been reduced over recent years (PT9712154F). The legislation means that reduction in working time is characterised by two features: the reduction of the working week to 40 hours, enabling workers to improve their quality of life; and increased flexibility in working hours. Addressing these two issues makes it necessary to create new schemes for working time management/organisation within companies. This situation inevitably leads to in-company negotiations, especially when the company makes use of shiftwork or of forms of work organisation that stray from the conventional.

Significant bargaining regarding this matter has occurred at the company level. Below, we examine two cases - the Somincor mining firm and Portugal's national airline, TAP-Air Portugal- which provide examples of changes in work organisation that came about through the re-evaluation of workers' pay. Both are companies in which the state is a major shareholder and in which, traditionally, unions find it relatively easier to bargain. The generally low level of wages in Portugal and the tradition of bargaining predominantly over economic issues are factors that lie at the heart of this situation

The cases of Somincor and TAP

In January 1998, after a prolonged negotiating phase (PT9707130N), an agreement on pay and working conditions was signed at Somincor, one of the largest copper mining concerns in Europe. The Mine Workers Union (Sindicato dos Trabalhadores da Indústria Mineira) and representatives from the Institute for the Improvement and Inspection of Working Conditions (Instituto do Desenvolvimento e Inspecção das Condições de Trabalho, IDICT) as well as Somincor management were involved in the conclusion of the agreement. The wage provisions of the agreement are valid for one year from 1 January 1998.

During negotiations with the company, a number of issues were discussed. Items agreed upon were: greater organisational flexibility with a restructuring of work schedules for different occupational categories; an increase in bonuses for continuous working (from 26.5% to 27.5% of basic monthly pay); pay supplements for workers at the deepest point of the mine shaft (of 15%-20% for workers in continuous shiftwork and 17% for other workers); an increased pay premium for work without breaks on holidays (from 100% to 125%); and a restructuring of production bonuses, based on a fixed and variable component. Other topics related to wage increases remain to be discussed.

TAP has also undergone a long process of negotiations and disputes (including strikes) and had to resort to mediators to settle (PT9708134N). In September 1997, the company and the Union of Civil Aviation Pilots (Sindicato dos Pilotos da Aviação Civil, SPAC) finally signed a preliminary company-level agreement to restructure work organisation. The prolonged negotiations covered changes to flight and rest periods, weekly flying time for pilots, and pay. Consensus was reached on: maximum flying time (50 hours per week or 90 hours within a two-week period); pay increases (3.5%); and compliance with the limit on consecutive night-time flying periods (a maximum of two, only one of which may take place between 02.00 and 06.00).

Commentary

Conditions of employment in Portugal are most often negotiated in sectoral agreements or laid down expressly in the law. This is, perhaps, one of the reasons that company-level agreements on work organisation issues, achieved through informal collective bargaining, have not received much attention. It is not really known how widespread the phenomenon is, although it is thought to be on the rise. Portuguese law governs company-level collective bargaining with respect to both who can sign labour agreements (only the trade unions on the side of the employees) and the scope of their application (only becoming legally binding after being published in the Labour and Employment Bulletin). This limits the growth of company-level collective bargaining - see"A negociação colectiva informal na ordem jurídica Portuguesa" João Lobo, Questões Laborais, No. 4 (1995). The negotiating process is seen to be excessively formal by the companies, which assert that the unions end up bringing into company negotiations discussion of wide-ranging issues that are not directly related to the actual bargaining situation at hand.

Although expansion of company-level bargaining has not been considered a priority by either employers or the unions, the underlying issue of representation in negotiations is becoming a significant one and it will be one of the key points in future discussion of changes to the process of collective bargaining. (Maria Luisa Cristovam and Ana Carla Casinhas, UAL)