Cabrita, Jorge

In 2011, average collective agreed weekly working time in the European Union stood at 38.1 hours. The working week was on average 30 minutes shorter in the pre-2004 EU15 countries and over 1 hour and 30 minutes longer in the new Member Stat...

Work plays a pivotal role in people’s lives, in the functioning of companies and in society at large. Improving the quality of work and working conditions has long been at the forefront of EU policy, most recently in the Europe 2020 Strat...

With a particular focus on the crisis and responses to it, this annual review highlights developments in working conditions and industrial relations in the EU Member States and Norway in 2010, both at national and EU level. At national level, the report examines key issues covered by collective bargaining (pay and working time) and looks at developments in social partner activity and industrial action. It also looks at company restructuring, the impact of the crisis and approaches to pension reform in light of demographic change. At European level, it reviews the year’s main events and trends in employment legislation and policy (in areas like paternity/maternity leave and working time), as well as in the European social dialogue at crosssectoral, sectoral and company levels. The final chapter focuses on training initiatives provided or supported by enterprises for their employees during the recession.

EIRO’s annual analysis of pay trends for 2010 finds that average collectively agreed nominal wage increases were lower than in 2009 in almost all 13 countries with available data, with Malta being the exception. The highest reductions in ...

In 2010, average collectively agreed weekly working time in the European Union stood at 38 hours. The figure was 0.4 hours lower in the pre-2004 EU15 and 1.7 hours higher in the new Member States. Agreed normal annual working time aver...

A recent project, entitled ‘Revalue work to promote gender equality’ (Revalorizar o Trabalho para Promover a Igualdade [1]), was funded by the EQUAL Community Initiative [2] and coordinated by the General Confederation of the Portuguese Workers (Confederação Geral dos Trabalhadores Portugueses – Intersindical, CGTP-IN [3]). The project developed a job evaluation method that is free from gender bias in Portugal’s hotels and restaurants sector, although more specifically in restaurants and beverage establishments. [1] http://www.cgtp.pt/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=376&Itemid=205 [2] http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/equal/index_en.cfm [3] http://www.cgtp.pt

In 2003, the Economic and Social Studies Society (Sociedade de Estudos Económicos e Sociais, S2E2 [1]) carried out a study on behalf of the Directorate General of Studies, Statistics and Planning – currently the Office for Strategy and Planning (Gabinete de Estratégia e Planeamento, GEP [2]) – on undeclared work [3] in Portugal. This study identifies different methodologies to evaluate the dimension of undeclared work in order to find the most adequate and effective way to quantify the Portuguese case. The study also looks at the approach to undeclared work in the context of the European Employment Strategy [4]’s National Action Plans [5] in different countries. Finally, the quantification of the problem is analysed in the construction sector using official statistics and the opinions of key observers. [1] http://www.s2e2.pt/ [2] http://www.dgeep.mtss.gov.pt/ [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/undeclared-work [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/european-employment-strategy [5] http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/employment_strategy/national_en.htm

An assessment made in the first phase of a project entitled ‘Social dialogue and equality in companies’ (Diálogo Social e Igualdade nas Empresas [1]) revealed that most companies in Portugal are not acquainted with the principle of gender equality [2] or how to promote it, nor with the competitive advantages that can arise from good practices in this domain. At the same time, the evaluation underlined the lack of mechanisms or tools supporting companies in this regard. [1] http://www.cite.gov.pt/dialogosocial/index.html [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/gender-equality

According to most recent statistics of the Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity (Ministério do Trabalho e da Solidariedade Social, MTSS [1]), the number of reported occupational accidents continues to decline (PT0704019I [2]). The number of working days lost due to workplace accidents decreased from 171,661 days in 2003 to 166,642 days in 2005, but the cumulative number of immediate days lost due to workplace accidents increased from 6.3 million to 6.8 million working days in the same period. This is reflected in the increase of the average days lost per occupational accident from 36.7 days to 40.9 days a year in the same period. [1] http://www.mtss.gov.pt/ [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/undefined/number-of-occupational-accidents-on-the-decline

Attitudes to work amongPortuguese workers vary greatly. In general, male workers, workers with a university degree and full-time workers seem to feel more secure in their jobs, to think that they have good opportunities for promotion and to be more satisfied about their jobs than female workers, workers with lower education and part-time workers. The former groups are also more likely to consider their jobs as interesting and useful to society.