CGTP says government proposal to raise incomes ‘perpetuates low wages and instability’

CGTP-IN said this Saturday that the agreement signed between the government and some trade unions to raise revenues will perpetuate a “pattern of low wages and instability”, justifying the reasons for not subscribing to the proposal.

“CGTP-IN has not signed the so-called medium-term agreement on increasing incomes, wages and competitiveness and is not following the measures recommended to strengthen it. The analysis we are conducting this Saturday, dedicated to the development of the situation of workers, framed in an uncompromising commitment to their rights and interests, confirms the reasons that led to the CGTP-IN decision a year ago,” the union center said in a statement.

This Saturday, the government signed an agreement with the central trade union União Geral de Trabalhadores (UGT), as well as with the employer associations Confederation of Farmers of Portugal (CAP), the Confederation of Commerce and Services of Portugal (CCP) and the Confederation of Tourism of Portugal (CTP). ) the so-called “Strengthening the Medium-Term Agreement to Raise Incomes, Wages and Competitiveness”, which increases the cost of the national minimum wage for the next year to 820 euros.

Without participating in the signing of this agreement, which comes a few days before the presentation of the proposal for the state budget for 2024 (OE2024) to parliament on Tuesday, the CGTP (which was no longer a signatory to the pact signed last year and has now been revised) and the CIP.

In its justification for non-compliance, CGTP-IN states that collective retrenchment “continues to be attacked” and that maintaining some standards in labor laws allows it to “perpetuate the causes that lead the country to a pattern of low wages and insecurity.”

“The 5.1% economic growth contained in the wage increase agreement this year results in an increase in the loss of purchasing power of workers (the Bank of Portugal has put forward a forecast of 5.4% in the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices for 2023). ) and, in some cases, loss of rights,” he warns.

In this sense, CGTP-IN states that “a general and significant increase is urgent, possible and absolutely necessary, both in the national minimum wage (910 euros from January 2024) and in all wages.”

“A general and significant increase in wages of at least 15%, but not less than 150 euros, away from the values ​​​​established in the signed “reinforcement”, as well as the addition of tax benefits for employers when required. is to force large companies to pay taxes, there are other reasons that force us not to sign the so-called strengthening,” they justify themselves.

The document, signed this Saturday, presents 54 points based on five axes: increasing wages, attracting and retaining talent, non-wage income of workers, measures relating to taxation and company financing, as well as administrative simplifications and contextual costs.

Strengthening the agreement includes measures such as an increase in the minimum wage to 820 euros in 2024, already announced measures regarding IRS Jovem, a phased reduction in income tax within the IRS and the renewal of brackets next year or the creation of tax and insurance benefits for the provision of housing employer.

The document also envisages defining with the civil engineering sector an “investment pact and simplification commitment to promote the construction of housing for the middle class” – be it for rent or for own housing, or strengthening the emergency renewal of family benefits.

At the agricultural level, the agreement provides for the continuation in 2024 of VAT exemptions on fertilizers, mineral fertilizers and soil improvers, as well as flour, cereals and seeds for feeding livestock, poultry and other animals.

According to Prime Minister António Costa, tourism will receive increased funding to promote Portugal as a destination “to combat seasonality” and “the extension of the concessionary tariff on drinks in restaurants will be extended.”