970€, 1,000€... Minimum wage divides employers and unions: What's coming?

What do the bosses stand for?

The business confederations stated, after a meeting of the Social Concertation on Wednesday, that do not see any “plausible” reasons for moving forward with a strengthening of the existing wage valuation and economic growth agreement, arguing that there are measures that have not yet been complied with.

“ There had to be a good reason, a plausible reason and the parties agreed that there was an advantage in reopening [the discussion about] the agreement”, said Oscar Gaspar, leader of the CIP, when asked whether the confederation would be available to strengthen the agreement in force, as advocated by the trade unions.

Oscar Gaspar argues that “on the salary side there is nothing to open the agreement”, given that the targets for the national minimum wage have been met and that “the increase in average wages was also higher than expected.”.

The President of the CTP considered that “there has to be a tangible and objective reason” to open this discussion and sustained its argument with the national and international economic environment. “We are not exactly in a time of economic boom,” Francisco Calheiros said.

In an allusion to the lead of the labour package, the CTP leader once again pointed out that he did not see “any political will” on the part of the trade unions to discuss the document. “And so maybe we don’t have much political will to discuss other things now,” he added.

Along with CIP, the president of CTP also warned for low productivity and high bureaucracy, referring that the diagnoses are made and that it is necessary to “have the will to modify”.

The president of CAP, Álvaro Mendonça and Moura, insisted that “the agreement [in force] must be fulfilled” before equating the opening of a renegotiation on the increase in the minimum wage. “The CAP is always available to discuss all measures. What we are not available is to discuss measure ‘A’, forgetting all the other measures,” he said.

Defending that “each measure has to be seen in its context”, Mendonça and Moura said that “at this time, the most important aspect for Portuguese farmers and forest producers is abandonment is that they have been voted on this year”.

After stating, in an interview with Antena 1 and Jornal de Negócios, that the confederation does not feel obliged to comply with the income agreement because the State will also not be fulfilling its part, the president of the CCP, Gustavo Paulo Duarte, stated that “there are a whole series of measures that are not being complied with, economic, growth, and they were all within the income agreement.”.

For the head of the CCP, the government can make the decision to increase the minimum wage by more than expected, “since it is by decree”, but if it does, “and if the economy does not work, if we get worse, if companies fail to respond to the legal needs imposed, the whole ‘backlash’ [repercussion] of the measures must be blamed on those who have responsibility”.

What about the unions? 

The Secretary-General of UGT proposed that the national minimum wage rise to 1,000 euros next year, while the secretary-general of CGTP argued that the country needs “a wage shock”.

“ We made a proposal for the minimum wage to be at least EUR 1,000” next year, the Secretary-General of the UGT said, in statements to journalists leaving the Permanent Committee for Social Concertation (CPCS) meeting, which was attended by the Minister of Finance to submit information on the proposed State Budget for 2027 (OE2027).

The Secretary-General of the CGTP considered that the presentation made by the Minister of Finance is “disconnected with reality”, not responding to “fundamental issues”, such as “strengthening and improving public services”, including health and education, “difficulty in access to housing” or increasing the cost of living.

In this sense, CGTP has again defended “a general and significant increase in wages by 15%, with a minimum of 150 euros” for all workers and that the national minimum wage rises to 1,100 euros from January 2027.

What does the government say?

The Minister of Labour has already said that the Government “is always open to review any agreements in the Social Concertation”, although the review of the increase in NMS is not at this time.

“ Right now, this isn't on the table. What is on the table is the agreement to comply with that has the amount already set for next year”, said Rosário Palma Ramalho, although admitting that the subject may be discussed at one of the next meetings with the social partners.

Although it was not part of the agenda of the work, the trade unions proposed that the annual increase of the NMS foreseen for 2027 should exceed the agreed value of EUR 50, in order to move from the current EUR 920 to EUR 1,000, in the case of the UGT, or the EUR 1,100, in the case of CGTP.

“Any partner may request revision of any agreement” done at the Social Concertation, said the ruler, adding that “just let the partners ask that this point be on the agenda”.

The next social concert meeting is scheduled for October 21st.

The tripartite agreement on wage valuation and economic growth for 2025-2028, signed in October 2024 between the Government, the four business confederations and the General Workers Union (UGT) reviewed the trajectory of the national minimum wage, predicting increases of eur 50 per year and reaching eur 1,020 by 2028. Thus, the document points out that the national minimum wage increases from the current 920 euros to 970 euros in 2027.