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Lisbon and Oporto companies may change the arrival and departure times, organizing them on a deferred basis, having only to previously consult the workers and representatives, with the workers who are not obliged to accept the change.
The measure is part of the proposed decree-law that the Government sent to the social partners and who are asked to send their opinion at the end of next Wednesday, before the diploma is approved by the Council of Ministers.
The draft law, to which Lusa had access, operationalizes one of the measures contemplated in the resolution of the Council of Ministers that declares the contingency situation in the field of the covid-19 pandemic on the creation of different entry and exit times, breaks, meals or shift changes by companies in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto.
The change of schedules, by organizing them on a deferred basis, aims to avoid crowds in the company and contribute to a lower concentration of people who use public transport at peak times.
According to the document, the creation of differentiated schedules in workplaces should be observed, “including common areas, support facilities and access areas” in which there is a simultaneous work provision by 50 or more workers.
Companies must organize the time difference between the different teams or departments with a minimum interval of 30 minutes between them up to the limit of one hour.
The diploma also provides for the creation of stable work teams so that contact only occurs between workers of the same team or to resort to teleworking whenever the activity allows it.
Failure to comply with these regulations is subject to administrative infraction, with the Working Conditions Authority being the entity that will have the competence to carry out the necessary inspections. According to the TSF, the highest fines established in the Labor Code will be applied. Thus, according to radio accounts, the fine could range between 2,000 and 61,000 euros.
Some workers may reject schedule changes
There are certain exceptions contemplated in the bill. The document says that the “The employer may modify the working hours, unless said change causes serious harm to the worker, by prior consultation with the workers involved and the workers committee or, failing that, the union or inter-union committee or union delegates, publishing the new schedules with minimum notice five days on the start of its application ”.
In addition to situations in which the worker claims serious injuries, the proposal establishes that workers “under 12 years of age in charge cannot accept” the change in your working hours.
Also workers with reduced work capacity, disability or chronic illness, as well as pregnant, postpartum and breastfeeding women and underage workers “are exempt” from working according to the new schedule “set by the employer, when the same “may harm your health or safety at work.”
The union is concerned about the “pressure on workers”
The sending of the document without tripartite discussion in the Social Concert concerns the general secretary of the UGT, Carlos Silva, who considers that the diploma leaves “open space” for “pressure on the workers” to be exerted, who, in his opinion, will have little margin to reject and Summon serious injuries.
Carlos Silva also warned about the fragility of the prior consultation provided for in the document in cases where there are no union structures and workers’ representatives in the companies and criticized that the Government is preparing to approve the diploma without first discussing it with the partners. . just asking them to give an opinion.
“It is one thing to raise concerns in a tripartite environment, it is another to send opinions in writing,” he said, emphasizing that this is not the consultation with the social partners “foreseen in the social dialogue.”
