Social security issues prominent on social partners' agenda

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In summer 2001, the Portuguese social partners are dealing with a number of occupational social security issues, at both company level - with disputes at the CGD/BNU bank and at the TAP airline - and nationally - with the privately-run occupational accident insurance scheme to be integrated into the social security system.

Occupational social security issues are increasingly an item on the agenda of the Portuguese social partners, as underlined by a number of recent events and developments.

The issue of mergers and acquisitions involving companies with different occupational social security schemes has been raised by a recent case in the banking sector, which has the most diverse systems in this area. Bank workers' trade unions manage a special supplementary health and social assistance and pensions scheme, known as SAMS (Serviços de Assistência Médico Social) that has until now covered all bank workers. The General Savings Bank (Caixa Geral de Depósitos, CGD), which has its own social security scheme, and the National Overseas Bank (Banco Nacional Ultramarino, BNU) have recently merged, and in June 2001, negotiations took place - spearheaded by the the Bank Workers' Union of Southern Portugal and Islands (Sindicato dos Trabalhadores Bancários do Sul e Ilhas) - over the future occupational social security coverage of the merged bank's employees.

CGD plans to include all BNU workers currently in employment in its own social security scheme, while excluding pensioners, who would continue to be covered by the SAMS. However, in the view of the union, CGD should take responsibility for both actively employed BNU workers and those who have retired, since intergenerational solidarity should be an integral part of the way that mutual health and social services function.

The unions are proposing that CGD/BNU introduce a plan similar to that operated by the Portuguese Commercial Bank (Banco Comercial Português, BCP), which offers its employees a system which includes both SAMS and the private insurance company, Médis. In other words, both actively employed workers and retirees at BNU would be entitled to use both SAMS or Médis as they wished, with the organisations themselves working out the financial aspects later. However, the union believes that all employees should continue to belong to SAMS, in order to assure the stability of the institution.

Another current case involving occupational social security issues relates to the position of employees of Portuguese companies in other EU countries. In summer 2001, the Portuguese national airline, Transportes Aéreos Portugueses (TAP), is reviewing its future contributions toward the occupational pension fund for its employees in the UK. According to the company, under current rules TAP's contributions to the fund are due to increase by 60%, an amount which it considers to be unsustainable. TAP's London employees have staged a strike aimed at pressuring the company to pay the full amount.

Finally, according to the Basic Law on Social Security adopted in July 2000 (PT0007100F), the management of occupational accident insurance - currently in the hands of private insurance companies, overseen by the Ministry of Finance- is in future to be handled by the social security system. A joint commission composed of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Labour and Solidarity has been set up to study how the accident insurance scheme is to be integrated into the social security system. However, the Portuguese Insurance Association (Associação Portuguesa de Seguros) and the Portuguese Association of Occupational Insurance Producers (Associação Portuguesa dos Produtores Profissionais de Seguros) have opposed the move, stating that it will cause a 30% drop in their activity. The associations have also stated that making the occupational accident insurance field a state monopoly will cause 30% unemployment among workers in the sector and a surge in the number of patients using public hospitals, since nearly 232,000 workplace accident victims are currently treated at insurance company clinics. The associations also assert that insurance companies should be entitled to receive compensation, should the state take over the occupational accident branch of the insurance business. Furthermore, insurance companies have complained that they have not been consulted during the process.