Lisbon, March 24, 2026 (Lusa) - Business confederations and the UGT (General Workers' Union) said on Tuesday that they needed more time to discuss the changes to labour law and that negotiations were not concluded, declining to commit to a deadline.
"We are in a negotiation phase that has not been finalised," and to proceed "we require more time," said the leader of the CIP - Business Confederation of Portugal, upon leaving the meeting between the government, the UGT union confederation and the four business confederations, which took place on Tuesday at the Ministry of Labour in Lisbon, alongside the chair of the Confederation of Commerce and Services (CCP) and the Secretary-General of the UGT.
João Vieira Lopes, the CCP’s leader, when asked if an agreement was imminent, said that while progress was made in every meeting, it had not been enough to say they were ready to close a deal.
Despite refusing to discuss specific details, noting that doing so would not be beneficial to the negotiations, Vieira Lopes described the current atmosphere as constructive.
The UGT's Secretary-General, Mário Mourão, said negotiations were ongoing and that meetings had not ended, adding that it had been agreed that no further statements regarding specific progress would be made at this time.
CCP leader also said that more meetings would take place, but they have not yet been scheduled.
The leader of the CIP, who had said upon entering the meeting that he hoped to conclude the process quickly and that the country was a bit tired of this negotiation, noted that the objective was to find a solution better than the starting point, even while acknowledging that each social partner held a different vision.
He added that they were trying to find a solution through this dialogue and cooperation.
The UGT and the business confederations declined to set a timeframe for ending the process, with Mourão deferring the answer to the government.
Regarding the UGT's national executive committee meeting scheduled for 9 April, Mourão indicated that various matters would be addressed, including an evaluation of the labour law negotiations, which have been ongoing for 8 months.
Any final decision on a potential agreement would always have to go through a plenary meeting of the Social Concertation, and the UGT’s Secretary-General has been emphasising that any decision by the union had to be approved by its national secretariat.
Mourão added that there was much left to discuss, and it would be premature to raise these issues (...) as he also had to answer to the UGT’s members.
Regarding the income plan to be proposed by the CIP, the UGT leader said that anything that increased workers' purchasing power was positive, but considered it premature to discuss the matter as no formal debate had taken place.
The labour minister did not speak to the press, nor did representatives from the CAP (Portuguese Farmers’ Confederation) or the CTP (Portuguese Tourism Confederation).
The government has held several technical meetings with the four employers’ confederations and the UGT to negotiate the more than 100 amendments to labour law. However, the CGTP union confederation (General Confederation of Portuguese Workers), which also holds a seat on the committee, has not been summoned to recent meetings, with the government saying it has been sidelined by the CGTP's demand to withdraw the proposal from discussion.
The government presented the draft reform, called "Work XXI", on 24 July 2025. A source close to the process told Lusa that over 50 meetings had been held and that a consensus had been reached on more than 76 articles, 24 of which the UGT proposed.
JMF/MYAL // ADB.
Lusa
