Policies Under Analysis
Contexts and interpretations of the Decent Work Agenda - some notes
The Policies in Analysis No. 13 - "Context and Readings of the Decent Work Agenda - some notes" - results from a presentation given by Professor de Oliveira Carvalho, associate professor at the Faculty of Law of the Catholic University of Portugal, at the conference organized by CoLABOR, entitled "Decent Work: Context and Readings of the Agenda", held on November 4, 2023.
Regarding precariousness
The right to job security is a fundamental principle, and its constitutional enshrinement implies recognition that the right to work has a human dimension, a dimension of personal fulfillment, and as such, removes from the employer's arbitrary control not only the free termination of the employment relationship, but also any and all substantial modifications to the content of the employment relationship.
The Decent Work Agenda should not ignore the fact that the strategy to combat precarious employment – which has different expressions – benefits from being framed within the constitutional objective of promoting job security, which, not being limited to merely combating precarious employment contracts, extends to other aspects of the employment relationship, reinforcing with this association the broader meaning of the concept of precariousness.
Expiry, arbitration and (im)balances in labor relations
Over the last 20 years, there have been profound changes in some of the legal principles on which collective labor relations in Portugal were based, notably with the introduction of the expiry regime for negotiated collective bargaining agreements.