Portugal's most influential trade union collective has stated ten reasons for raising the minimum wage to €600-a-month
According to the union, updating the minimum wage to €600 is "a duty of the Government and a workers’ right."
The CGTP says that it is the responsibility of the Government, according to the Constitution of the Republic, and with the Law, "to establish the National Minimum Wage after consulting the country’s social partners."
The union wants the January 2018 increase agreed, to improve the living conditions of workers and their families, as well as the country's economic and social development.
"The increase in minimum wage and wages generally is an investment with a return, since improving the incomes of workers and their families contributes to a fairer distribution of wealth, the evolution of business, economic growth and strengthening the financial sustainability of Social Security."
"In recent years, it has been found that the arguments of employers' confederations about the closure of businesses and the rise in unemployment, as a consequence of the increase in the minimum wage, were found to be false. The numbers prove precisely the opposite: with the increase in the national minimum wage, unemployment has fallen, we have more jobs and the economy is growing. During the period when the minimum wage was frozen, employment decreased, unemployment rose and GDP fell 6.7%."
"Employers' on-costs for wages and Social Security contributions correspond, on average, to 14% of the total costs of businesses. This confirms that the problem of companies is not wages, but energy and fuel charges, among others. A problem that involves vested interests and which requires the government's courage and political determination to resolve."
"In a context in which many sectors have significantly increased their turnover and profits, namely in Hospitality, Tourism and Catering, in the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Industry, in Construction, Ceramics and Glass and in Services, there is no argument to justifying the employer's resistance to an increase of the national minimum wage to €600, except the obsession for the continued exploitation of workers, as protagonists of increasing production and national wealth."
"The study on Adequate Income in Portugal, an income level at which a person can live with dignity, points to a national minimum wage of €783. This is yet another example of how much there is to do to value labour and to respect workers."
"The minimum wage was implemented in 1974, and if it had been uprated annually according to inflation and productivity, its level would be €1,267 in 2018. This shows how workers have been penalised over this period";
"The update of the minimum wage to €600, in January 2018, will not go ahead if the government does not want it to but there are economic conditions, social reasons and a correlation of forces in parliament capable of accomplishing this objective."
