Sunday, November 15, 2009

Labour Anarchy

The Portuguese Communist Party are currently running a poster campaign that states simply: "We Will Revoke the Labour Law". Are they nuts? Do they have any legal advisors at all?

The Portuguese Labour Law covers contractual rights and obligations of employers and employees, health and safety at work, training requirements and much more. Most employers would be only too glad to see the abolition of clauses that prohibit the dismissal of incompetent, disruptive staff, give the employee total right to refuse to changes in working conditions and disallow monitoring of email and internet use. I, for one, would be more than happy to see it revoked as it hamstrings any hopes of a recovery plan for small- or medium-sized companies in the current crisis.

Of course, the PCP wants to revoke the changes that have been nibbling away at employee rights. Their fight would be more credible if they were more careful with what they say!