Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1989, published 76th ILC session (1989)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Portugal (Ratification: 1964)

The Committee takes note of the information supplied by the Government to the Conference Committee in 1987 and in its last report.

It also takes note of the comments made by the CGTP (General Confederation of Portuguese Workers) and of the Government's reply to them.

Articles 4 and 6 of the Convention. In its previous observation, the Committee, as did the Committee on Freedom of Association in Case No. 1370 (248th Report approved by the Governing Body at its 235th Session, March 1987), invited the Government to amend its legislation so as to ensure that the prior authorisation needed for the entry into force of a collective agreement concerning public enterprises (section 24(c) of Legislative Decree No. 519/CI/79) can only be refused on grounds of form or because the provisions of the collective agreement do not conform to the minimum social standards contained in the legislation.

In its communications, the Government reiterates its previous statements to the effect that public enterprises are subject to the authorisation or approval of the supervisory authorities, and recalls that the refusal to deposit agreements applying to public enterprises constitutes an act of a procedural nature in that the examination by the General Labour Directorate is confined to ascertaining the presence or absence of the document giving the permission or approval of the appropriate authorities.

The Committee again takes note of this statement, but points out that it has already observed that public enterprises are subject to government supervision in economic and financial matters, in accordance with Legislative Decree No. 260/76, as the CGTP confirms in its comments.

Although it is not for the Committee to pronounce on the causes of the measures a government takes for purposes of economic stabilisation, it none the less emphasises that when legislation has the effect of imposing such a policy on the social partners, the principle contained in Article 4 of the Convention is not respected.

The Committee joins the Committee on Freedom of Association in urging that, instead of making the validity of collective agreements subject to government approval, the Government might provide that every collective agreement filed with the appropriate authority should normally come into force a reasonable length of time after having been filed. If the public authority considered that the terms of the agreement were manifestly in conflict with the objects of the economic policy recognised as being desirable in the general interest, the case could be submitted for advice and recommendation to an appropriate consultative body, it being understood, however, that the final decision on the matter lay with the parties.

The Committee again requests the Government to state the measures taken to ensure that the Convention is applied in this respect.