Portuguese government calls for labour reform dialogue as strike looms

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LISBON (Reuters) -Portugal’s minority centre-right government said on Thursday it was open to talks with unions, which have called a general strike next month over a planned overhaul of labour laws that would make dismissals easier and working hours more flexible.

Minister for Cabinet Affairs Antonio Leitao Amaro told a news briefing that the administration was involved in meetings and conversations, and working towards an understanding with the unions and employers, which would make any strike premature and counterproductive.

“It is hard to understand why some want to halt the country … when the government is showing its real, true and concrete openness to dialogue,” he said. “This is a government of dialogue, it has always been that.”

Earlier on Thursday, UGT, one of the two main umbrella unions, voted to join the strike called by the other labour confederation, CGTP, on December 11 against the reform.

UGT leader Mario Mourao told Eco news outlet that the strike could be called off if the government presented a new reform plan taking into account union proposals and agreed to negotiate without red lines.

The reform seeks to change more than 100 articles of the labour code to boost business productivity, but unions argue it infringes labour rights.

The plan envisions easing just-cause dismissals in small and medium businesses by removing the obligation to present evidence at the employee’s request or hear the employee’s witnesses. It also seeks to lift limits on outsourcing.

Despite a slow improvement in recent years, Portugal still lags well behind the European Union average for productivity due to structural weaknesses such as lower educational qualifications, according to reports by the National Productivity Board.

(Reporting by Andrei Khalip. Editing by Mark Potter)