Background information

On 12 May 2020, a Declaration of Commitment (Declaração de Compromisso) was signed between the Government and the Social Partners (with the exception of CGTP) represented at the Standing Committee of Social Concertation (CPCS). Basically it constitutes “a public expression of effort, trust and commitment to joint work by the signatories" in order to face the current challenges.

Content of measure

The Declaration of Commitment does not specify any kind of measures, but identifies joint general purposes in relation to economic recovery such as the commitment to act in their scope of competencies and work together to promote an economic recovery in safe conditions from the point of view of public health and also in the workplace.

The first condition is to be sustainable over time and to guarantee that the efforts collectively made, with heavy costs for companies, for workers and citizens as a whole and for the State, are not wasted. On the other hand, they also promise dialogue to reinforce and deepen, in the short term, a legal and administrative framework which includes swift and non-bureaucratic supportive measures, to help companies, employment, individuals and households, that are favorable to the resumption of the economic activity, promoting productivity and competitiveness and safeguarding social cohesion, which are strategic objectives for the country.

Use of measure

General principles to guide social dialogue along the economic recovery.

Contents

• Other topics

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Applies to all workers	Applies to all businesses	Applies to all citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Trade unions Employers' organisations	No special funding required

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative
Form	Consultation through tripartite or bipartite social dialogue bodies	Consultation through tripartite or bipartite social dialogue bodies

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Social partners jointly
• Main level of involvement: Peak or cross-sectoral level

Involvement

All social partners represented at the the Standing Committee of Social Concertation (CPCS) - the two trade union confederations - CGTP and UGT, and the four employer confederations - CIP, CCP, CTP and CAP, were involved in the discussion/negotiation rounds of the terms of the Declaration of Commitment in the context of CPCS. CGTP did not sign.

Views and reactions

All the social partners supported and signed the Declaration of Commitment with the exception of CGTP. This trade union confederation argued that the tripartite Commitment "does not reflect the real situation of accentuated inequality" and "does not reflect the situation in which millions of workers are unemployed or with significant cuts in their wages, overdue wages and disrespect for their rights, nor points out ways to respond to these problems". For CGTP the agreement is limited to "affirming a set of intentions (…) transmitting the idea that we are all on the same level, when reality shows that the workers are the most disadvantaged, the most affected by the crisis".

Sources

• 12 May 2020: Declaration of Commitment (Declaração de Compromisso) (www.ces.pt)