Portugal
Key Facts
| Population | 10,638,000 |
|---|---|
| Collective Bargaining Coverage | 90% |
| Proportion of Employees in Unions | 19% |
| Principal Level of Collective Bargaining |
industry but company negotiations to be given greater importance |
| Workplace Representation |
union (and works council) |
| Board-level Representation |
yes: state-owned companies (law is not implemented) |
| Company Board Structure |
monistic |
Trade Union
Lack of precise data makes it difficult to give figures of trade union membership in Portugal and there is a large gap between the totals provided by the unions and the union density estimates of the government. There are two main trade union confederations, the CGTP-IN and the UGT, whose relationship was initially marked by conflict rather than co-operation, but has now improved. Trade union structures are complex with almost 350 autonomous individual unions.
more ...Collective Bargaining
Negotiations at industry level, between employers associations and the unions, are the most important element in Portugal’s collective bargaining arrangements. Company level agreements cover many fewer employers. Portugal has traditionally had a high level of collective bargaining coverage – partially through the extension of agreements by the government. However, this high level is under threat because of changes to the system under the pressure of the economic crisis.
more ...Workplace Representation
Although in theory there are two channels of workplace representation of employees for most issues – through the workplace union representatives and through an elected works council, in practice works councils are relatively rare. They normally only exist in large companies where unions are strong. The rights of both are limited to information and consultation, with no opportunity to block management decisions.
more ...Board-level Representation
The Portuguese constitution refers to the rights of employees to elect representatives on the governing bodies of state-owned companies and other public bodies – rights that were never implemented. In addition, in 1999, legislation removed the right of employees to elect a member of the management board. There is no employee board level representation in private companies.
more ...European-level Representation
All Portuguese members of bodies concerned with European Works Councils or European Companies are chosen in the same way – appointed by agreement with the works council and the unions, or by the unions if there is no works council, and they represent sufficient employees.
more ...Health and Safety
Employee safety, hygiene and health representatives are elected in all undertakings. These representatives must be elected directly by a secret ballot of all workers from lists put forward by the trade unions or at the initiative of at least 20% of the workers in the undertaking.
more ...Financial Participation
The most important form of employee financial participation in Portugal is profit-sharing. Share ownership is less widespread. Basically, employee financial participation traces back to the privatization process, especially between the late 1980’s and the mid-1990’s. One of the objectives of the privatization process was to “allow a wide participation of Portuguese citizens in the ownership of privatized firms […].”1 Today, employee financial participation no longer seems to be very important in the public debate.2
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