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Social dialogue, collective negotiation essential to guarantee labor rights: Portuguese PM

Xinhua, October 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

Social dialogue and collective negotiation are essential to guarantee labor rights, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Wednesday.

Addressing a conference to mark 100 years since the creation of the first ministry for work in Portugal, Costa said the Portuguese government was committed to supporting decent work as supported by the International Labour Organization.

"The idea presented so many times that Portugal continued to have a labor market that was too rigid and that the rise of productivity had to necessarily involve labor flexibility are facts we were able to deny on the basis of international comparative studies carried out by these organizations," he said.

"Austerity measures and insisting on a competitive model based on labor deregulation and low salaries had a negative impact on work and on the economy," Costa added.

He pointed out that the unemployment level hit 17.5 percent in 2013, taking away over 200,000 jobs. This led the government to abandon "the project of poverty" which the country was subject to, and to focus on a strategy "to dignify work," he said.

Costa said the government had held meetings with experts, institutions and social partners to establish priorities to establish mechanisms to modernize and transition to the new paradigms of the digital revolution.

The Socialist government, led by Antonio Costa and backed by the Left Bloc and Communist Party, has a budget for 2017 which centers on recovery of personal income while raising indirect taxes.

Costa has insisted his anti-austerity approach is boosting the economy. However, economic forecasts were recently revised in the country's state budget for 2017, expecting a larger deficit and lower growth compared to its forecast in April.

The government is expecting a deficit of 1.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and growth to be 1.5 percent next year. Portugal is aiming to cut its unemployment rate to 10.4 percent next year from 11.2 percent in 2016. Endit