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The negotiations on the State Budgets for 2021 are in full swing and the tension could not be greater. The arm wrestling takes place on two levels: that of meetings and telephone conversations between the two parties; and in public space. Abroad, the Government and the PS strive to show openness and good faith in business. The Government shows an approximation to the demands of the Left Bloc, while denouncing what it considers the mobile goals of Catarina Martins’ party, which become more demanding as the Government gives in, he says. The Bloco de Esquerda recalls its initial demands, underlining what the Government insists on not accepting, accusing the António Costa Executive of intransigence and lack of negotiating commitment.
Three days before the delivery of the State Budget proposal to Parliament, the rope is effectively about to break. And in different parts. From the information collected by Negócios from an official source, it is possible to find small concessions from the Government in most of the cases presented by the Bloco de Esquerda. For the Government it is a lot, for the Block it is little. See for yourself.
SOCIAL SECURITY
In this area, bargaining has a lot to do with two important social benefits: unemployment benefit and a new social benefit for those without income or social support. In the first area, the divergences remain enormous; in the second, not so much.
Social protection in unemployment
The Left Bloc wants the minimum and maximum limit of unemployment benefit to cease based on the Social Support Index (IAS) and that it is related to the value of the minimum wage (higher and which has been growing much faster). The PS refuses to break with an indexation that its government created (to “release” the minimum wage) and accepts only to increase the minimum amount of unemployment benefit from 1 IAS to 1.15 IAS and only during 2021.
The Bloc also advocated flexible access to unemployment benefits, in terms of discount periods and ages, but the government did not follow.
As for the social unemployment benefit, which is lower and for those who made fewer discounts, the Government also does not accept the Bloc’s proposal to extend to next year the measures provided for in the supplementary budget that facilitate access to this benefit.
New social benefit
It is one of the issues where there was greater convergence between the Government and the Left Bloc: the creation of a new social benefit for workers who lost their jobs and who do not have access to any unemployment benefits. They coincide with the objective of launching a social benefit that raises the income of these beneficiaries to the poverty line, but they differ greatly with the rest.
Namely: there is no agreement on the condition of recourse, that is, on the conditions of access to the benefit. The Government refuses to eliminate the formula and the weight that it gives to each minor in the home; The Block also wants to include precarious and informal workers but also young people who, despite living at home with their parents, have independent households in the IRS and who previously had income above the poverty line.
The two parties continue to disagree with the minimum limits of this provision, proposing the Block to be half of IAS and the Government assigning this value only when the losses are greater than 1 IAS, allocating 50 euros in the rest of cases.
Finally, there is no agreement on how long the measure will take effect. The Bloc argues that it must be paid throughout the year 2021, with an intermediate evaluation report that will be carried out in October of next year to see in what terms the benefit can be extended to the following year. The government wants the benefit to last only six months, consecutive or interpolated, except for the unemployed whose benefit ends in the meantime.
HEALTH
This is one of the areas where the Bloc and the Government are closest. But the divergences persist.
Risk allocation for NHS professionals
This is one of the measures that gathers the greatest consensus between the Bloc and the Government. The Executive accepted a large part of the blockers’ proposal: the subsidy is monthly, corresponding to 20% of the base salary up to a maximum of 219 euros. You will be paid a maximum of 12 months a year and for the duration of the pandemic situation. But here there are also edges to be filed. The Government agrees that they are health professionals of the SNS or integrated in the Ministry of Health with a contract of employment in public functions, who have direct or mainly competence in the fight against covid-19. The wording is vague and the Block wants the Executive to be more specific and clear in the scope of the subsidy. For example, should an ambulance worker who transports covid patients but also other patients receive the subsidy?
Recruitment of professionals for the NHS
It has been one of the most present issues in the public discussion between the Government and the Bloc, with real battles between António Costa and Catarina Martins. They coincide with the objective of meeting the objective set in the State Budgets for 2020 of hiring 8,400 professionals. But the Block wants this reinforcement to be liquid, that is, already discounting the professionals who left the NHS, and insists on speeding up the hiring process. The Government does not confront it.
Creation of the career of auxiliary health technician
It is a fight of these SNS professionals that the Bloc also sponsored. But the government was not convinced and rejected the proposal.
LABOR LAW
A State Budget law is not supposed to bring labor measures, but in the last legislature it became used to having programmatic rules in this area, which were not always complied with. It is the area where there is the greatest distance between Block and Government and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
Minimum wage increase
The Block requires 35 euros and the maintenance of the trajectory foreseen in the government program. The António Costa executive refuses and proposes an increase of 23.75 euros and without committing to its evolution in 2022.
Restitution of pre-troika severance payments
It is an old flag of the Bloco de Esquerda, like the PCP, and the PS itself opposed the changes made during the troika’s adjustment program, when Pedro Passos Coelho ruled the country. But António Costa refuses to deal with this matter and open a war with the employers’ confederations but also with the European Commission.
Mandatory maintenance of employment levels in support of the Recovery Plan
It was a rule that was in force for many supporters in these months of pandemic and the Block wants it to continue with the Recovery and Resilience Plan. The government is opposed. The Bloc also wants precarious workers to be protected by these measures, something that also does not get government approval.
Ban layoffs in profitable companies
It is another banner of the Bloco de Esquerda with honors “in the open air.” The party wants to ban companies that have made profits during the two years of 2019 and 2020 from making layoffs. The PS does not agree and only agrees to do so for companies that make use of investment tax benefits, in particular the ReInvestment Support Tax System (RFAI) and Tax Incentive System for Business Research and Development (SIFIDE). Furthermore, this restriction only applies to companies with more than 250 employees and € 50 million in turnover. Another difference: the PS only wants to take into account the earnings of 2020, a difficult year for many of them, ignoring the results of 2019.
End of expiration of the collective agreement
The Bloc wanted to end the possibility that business confederations would unilaterally break collective contracts, but the only thing it did in return was a 24-month moratorium.
Restoration of the principle of more favorable treatment
It is an old claim of the left parties. The idea is simple: collective agreements can never foresee more unfavorable measures than those foreseen in the general law. It was one of the amendments to the labor law that generated the most opposition from the unions. The Government and the PS do not even want to know. Employers’ confederations affirm that this principle prevents free negotiation between the parties in practice, to the detriment of companies.
Greater monitoring of digital platforms
The Block wants to make the licensing of the operation of digital platforms dependent on the formalization of employment contracts and the periodic demonstration of compliance with this obligation. The government rejected the proposal, only accepting that there is a legal presumption of the existence of an employment contract with the platform, which can only be removed in court. For the Bloc, it is a protection that works only in the event of a legal dispute, which forces the worker to take the company to court, which many are unwilling to do.
Duty to disconnect companies
The bloc wants the right to disconnect in practice to be a duty of the worker (except in special situations and defined in collective bargaining) to ensure that it is not subject to pressure from the company. For the Government, the worker must be able to be interrupted in his rest if he gives his consent to the company.
NEW BANK
It is one of the most visible wars. There were approaches, but insufficient in view of the Block. Catarina Martins’ party demands the suspension of payment commitments until the audit of the performance of Novo Banco under the direction of Lone Star, something that the Government has not yet accepted.
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