Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Social Policy (Basic Aims and Standards) Convention, 1962 (No. 117) - Portugal (Ratification: 1981)

Parts I and II of the Convention. Improvement of standards of living. With reference to the observation made in 2010, the Committee notes the Government’s detailed replies received in January 2014 and the attached observations made by the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers–National Trade Unions (CGTP–IN), the General Workers’ Union (UGT) and the Confederation of Portuguese Tourism (CTP). The Government refers to the Memorandum of Understanding relating to the Economic and Financial Adjustment Programme concluded in 2011 with the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and the Tripartite Social Dialogue Agreement of 2012, which required changes to social benefits in various areas. The Committee notes the measures adopted to endeavour to guarantee the social protection of the most vulnerable, without endangering the financial sustainability of the social security system. The CGTP–IN expresses concern at the fact that over the past ten years there has been a growing difference between the average living standards in Portugal and those of other European Union countries, which has been accentuated as a result of the austerity programmes agreed between the Government and the Troika. Real available income fell by around 4 per cent between 2011 and 2012 (in terms of average annual variations), particularly due to the fall in remuneration from work and in internal transfers. The UGT also indicates that the responses adopted to the sovereign debt crisis have focused on austerity measures, which have had a persistent negative impact on workers and pensioners, as well as questionable economic results. The CTP considers that, notwithstanding the current “freezing” of the national minimum wage, the positive impact of adjusting the minimum wage through collective agreements in some sectors has had an undeniably positive impact on improving the living standards of workers. The Committee invites the Government to provide a summary of the results achieved by social policy programmes and other initiatives intended to ensure that “the improvement of standards of living” has been regarded as the principal objective in the planning of economic development within the framework of the social policies applied in the context of the economic and financial crisis (Article 2 of the Convention).

Part IV. Remuneration of workers. In its previous observation, the Committee requested the Government to provide the decisions of the competent authorities in relation to the application of section 279 of the Labour Code, which regulates deductions that employers may make from the remuneration of workers. In this respect, the Committee notes with interest the rulings of the Court of Appeal of Lisbon, which found unlawful certain irregular deductions made as advances on wages. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide the rulings of the competent authorities, the courts and other institutions on matters of principle relating to the application of section 279 of the Labour Code (Article 12).