The Ministry of Finance has informed Portugal’s councils that those which decided that its staff working hours should remain at 35 hours a week, rather than adopt the 40 hour week as decreed in a new labour law, are in fact breaking the law.
Councils thought they had found a loophole in the legislation by entering into a collective bargaining arrangement with unions representing council workers and thus could stick to the 35 hour working week.
This is not the case, as the Ministry of Finance has now issued a warning to councils, parish councils and other municipal bodies whose workers are managing the 35-hour week that this is violating the law.
The warning was given after the Government approved the opinion of the Attorney General's Office which concluded that the negotiation of collective agreements between workers unions and employers in local government must include the active participation of the Ministry of Finance - then the agreement has to be published in the Official Gazette for it to become valid.
Municipalities that signed agreements with the unions for the 35-hour working week, 400 of which which are lying in the Ministry of Finance’s in-tray, are not allowed to let their employees work a 35-hours week, they have to apply the 40-hour week as prescribed by law last September.
In reaction to this announcement from the Ministry of Finance, the Federation of Trade Unions of Public Administration (FESAP) regrets that the Government "has waited many months to approve this opinion and needs to present a solution to this important issue."
Union leader José Abraão is to meet with the Secretary of State, Leite Martins, "as soon as possible so that solutions are arrived at and clarifications are presented to unlock the agreements and ensure the 35 hour working week."
The government is refusing to hand over the written opinion of the Attorney General’s Office which makes rational discussion difficult as the union leaders are unable to consider the basis on which the decision was made.
