Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1991, published 78th ILC session (1991)

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

Articles 4 and 6 of the Convention. For several years the Committee has been drawing the Government's attention to the need to amend the national legislation, which requires prior authorisation from the Minister concerned for the entry into force of a collective agreement concerning public enterprises (section 24(c) of Legislative Decree No. 519/CI/79), under the terms of its right to intervene which is set out, particularly in economic and financial matters, in Legislative Decree No. 260/76 of 8 April 1976, as amended by Legislative Decree No. 25/79 of 19 February 1979 and Legislative Decree No. 29/84 of 20 January 1984.

The Committee notes with interest that section 24(c) of Legislative Decree No. 519/CI/79 has been amended by Legislative Decree No. 87/89 of 23 March 1989, the text of which was transmitted by the Government; as amended, this section provides that in the absence of the authorisation of the Minister concerned, a collective agreement may be registered with a view to its coming into force, although the registration is not considered to be definitive until receipt of the documents containing the authorisation of the Minister concerned.

The Committee also notes, from the information supplied by the Government, that this procedure applies to a smaller number of public enterprises due to the privatisation of a number of these enterprises and to the fact that the measure only concerns public enterprises financed exclusively from public funds.

The Committee considers that the amendment introduced by Legislative Decree No. 87/89 is an improvement to the collective bargaining system in the public enterprises sector since, in particular, it avoids delays in the coming into force of collective agreements. However, it seems that the Minister concerned may still intervene in the collective bargaining process by virtue of Legislative Decree No. 260/76, as amended.

In these conditions, the Committee once again requests the Government to ensure that authorisation can only be refused for defects of form or because the provisions of the collective agreement do not conform to the minimum standards of the labour legislation, and to supply information on the cases in which the Minister concerned has refused his authorisation on the grounds of the contents of a collective agreement.