Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2015, published 105th ILC session (2016)

Employment Service Convention, 1948 (No. 88) - Portugal (Ratification: 1972)

The Committee notes the observations from the General Confederation of Portuguese Workers – National Trade Unions (CGTP–IN) and the General Workers’ Union (UGT) sent with the Government’s report.

Article 1 of the Convention. Contribution of the employment service to employment promotion. The Government indicates in its report that it is essentially local organizational units that have been modified within the structure of the public employment service. A number of employment services have been regrouped within a single organizational unit with expanded territorial coverage in order to optimize resources and substantially reduce the number of managerial posts, thereby helping to cut public expenditure in the context of the commitments entered into by the Government. The UGT states that, although the employment services have always been public bodies, the current system is on the point of being replaced by another one, which will have a new basis and focus in particular on new private players, and that such a development may undermine the principle laid down in Article 1 of the Convention, namely that each member State must maintain or ensure the maintenance of a free public employment service. The CGTP–IN states that in 2012 the number of employment centres was reduced from 89 to 52 without this change being the subject of prior discussion with the confederations of trade unions and employers. It adds that in June 2014 the employment centres proposed just over 22,000 employment vacancies at the national level, whereas the number of registered unemployed stood at some 615,000, and, lastly, that the jobs on offer are of “poor quality”, which contributes towards maintaining precarious employment and keeping wages low. The Committee requests the Government to provide an appraisal of the impact of the activities of the employment service and of the manner in which it ensures “the best possible organization of the employment market as an integral part of the national programme for the achievement and maintenance of full employment and the development and use of productive resources”. It also requests the Government to continue to provide information on the number of public employment offices established, the number of applications for employment received, the number of vacancies notified, and the number of persons placed in employment by such offices.

Article 9. Employment service staff. The UGT indicates that there is a risk of undermining the principle laid down in Article 9 of the Convention, which stresses the public status of the employment of workers in the employment service. The CGTP–IN asserts in this respect that the modifications made to the status of employees of the employment service do not guarantee observance of Article 9(1) of the Convention since the new regulations do not ensure that they have the stability of employment provided for by this Article. The Committee requests the Government to provide further details of the status and conditions of employment of the staff of the employment service.