Labor law? Government “obviously not committed to calendar”

A minister of the Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, Rosario Palma Ramalho, spoke at the official inauguration of FIA Lisbon – International Craft Fair 2026, in Lisbon.

“The government is still making the political assessment of this process”, avenged Rosario Palma Ramalho, adding that as long as this evaluation takes place “obviously it does not commit to any calendar”.

Nevertheless, the governor again signaled that the revision of labor legislation “is an inevitability”, arguing that the country “must adapt its legislation to the challenges of artificial intelligence”, as well as “to the new forms of work”.

“ This is something we have to do: whether this government is another government. Be a whole package, be more specific measures”, he said.

At the National Congress of the PSD, the Minister of Labour had shown confidence that the Prime Minister would insist on changes to the labor law.

“And if I know him well, there we will again do this and other reforms by the Portuguese and Portugal,” he said.

The government's proposal to revise labor legislation was dropped on May 19, in general, with the votes against the Aquida and the parliamentary left, after André Ventura's party had not reached an agreement with the PSD.

The text relied solely on votes in favour of the parties supporting the Government (PSD-CDS-PP) and IL.

After not reaching agreement in the Social Concertation, the bill entered the Assembly of the Republic on 18 May and contemplated “more than 50 amendments” to the initial preliminary draft, of which 12 came from the UGT, according to the Minister of Labour.

Last week, President Empresarial Confederation of Portugal argued that the discussion on changes to labor law should be resumed, but stressed that the process should not be “precipitated” and that there should be “a new root document”.