This Thursday Parliament is debating the PCP Diploma, which limits the use of temporary employment companies, limits the situations in which they can be used and the length of their contracts, as a way to “promote job stability.”
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, PCP MP Manuel Loff felt that temporary work “is one of the most obvious characteristics of the neoliberal economic policy cycle” and warned that “it is growing like an oil slick” in the current job market.
According to statistics provided by the MP, there are currently more than 400,000 Portuguese workers in this type of regime, which corresponds to approximately “10% of the active population of Portugal”.
The PCP project “restricts what has been the expansion of the business of temporary employment companies (ETTs), those real surrogates of other companies that retain the possibility of intimidation, harassment, restriction of employee rights and self-respect because of the insecurity of their employees. -decisiveness, which is very serious,” said Manuel Loff.
The temporary work regime associated with a PCP diploma is implemented through a triangular relationship between the ETT, the worker and another company: ETT hires the worker to provide temporary services to a third party company, called the “user company”.
In its bill, the PCP wants to significantly reduce the cases where a user company can use temporary work services by proposing changes to the Labor Code.
In the article on the eligibility of contracts for the use of temporary work, PCP implies that the use of this type of service can only occur “in situations where there is a temporary need”, for example, a seasonal activity lasting less than six months, or for the “performance of an occasional task” of a well-defined and short.
Manuel Loff said the measure is intended to prevent companies from resorting to ETTs to “cover ongoing needs”, warning that this logic introduces the idea that workers should only be paid for hours worked, excluding free time and rest. .
“This type of logic constantly dominates the thesis, which begins to atomize the entire work experience, as if we were returning to the 19th century, when all workers were paid on a job,” he said.
As a way to “dissuade user companies from hiring ETTs,” the PCP project also wants to limit the length of temporary employment contracts, which now cannot exceed, including renewals, a maximum of six months, as opposed to the current two years.
The party also proposes that temporary workers should be entitled to the same vacation benefits and subsidies that those who perform the same functions in the “user company” receive.
“Essentially, the goal of the project is to limit the possibility of temporary work,” summed up Manuel Loff.
When asked whether he believes that the PS, which has an absolute majority, will approve this diploma, the deputy replied that “usually socialists agree with measures of this kind, as long as they take the initiative and believe that, practically without introducing norms in the law, if it is better fulfills the purposes of this nature.
“We also know that when the PS is in power, it does not (…) have the slightest opportunity for significant changes in the Labor Code.
The debate this Thursday also saw the passage of a bill from the Left Bloc that also changes the temporary labor regime and aims to “strengthen mechanisms to combat forced labor and other forms of labor exploitation.”
When asked about the PCP’s position on this BE diploma, Manuel Loff said that in general the party “follows with interest what the BE represents in this area.”
“We understand that we have additional work, which, in general, in the field of labor relations is not shocking,” he said.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Sandra Hansen, a news website Author and Reporter for 24 News Reporters. I have over 7 years of experience in the journalism field, with an extensive background in politics and political science. My passion is to tell stories that are important to people around the globe and to engage readers with compelling content.