Abstract
Since 1974, Portuguese trade unions and their confederations have obtained key roles within the institutional model of Portuguese democracy. These concern primarily, but not only, the institutions involved in labour market regulation, namely, collective bargaining and tripartite negotiation. Tellingly, neither the long-term evolution of the model nor the recent crises has directly challenged either of these roles of the unions at a formal level, but they have challenged the substance and efficacy of labour regulation and industrial democracy. It is this potential discrepancy between the formal roles assigned to unions and labour representation and their substantive effects that is the principle object of this chapter. In order to assess the institutional changes that involve labour representation and regulation over time, it traces the relation between neo-liberal influence and policy and economic crisis, exploring the hypothesis that although the institutions “appear to have survived unscathed from an earlier era, the way in which they actually operate has often changed beyond recognition” (Howell 2009: 252–253). To do so, it surveys the transformations of the regulatory institutions throughout democratisation and European integration and in the context of the recent crises, focusing on the protracted decline of unionisation and the crisis of collective bargaining.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Addison, J. T., Portugal, P., & Vilares, H. (2017). Unions and Collective Bargaining in the Wake of the Great Recession: Evidence from Portugal. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 55(3), 551–576.
Baccaro, L., & Howell, C. (2011). A Common Neoliberal Trajectory: The Transformation of Industrial Relations in Advanced Capitalism. Politics & Society, 39(4), 521–563.
Barreto, J. (1990). Os Primórdios da Intersindical sob Marcelo Caetano. Análise Social, XXV(105–106), 57–117.
Barreto, J., & Naumann, R. (1996). Portugal: Industrial Relations Under Democracy. In A. Ferner & R. Hyman (Eds.), Industrial Relations in the New Europe. Oxford: Blackwell.
Boyer, R. (1986). La flexibilité du travail en Europe. Paris: Éditions La Decouverte.
Campos Lima, M. P. (2015). A reconfiguração do regime de emprego e de relações laborais em Portugal na ótica liberal. Cadernos do Observatório sobre Crises e Alternativas, 5. Coimbra: CES.
Campos Lima, M. P. (2016). O desmantelamento do regime de negociação coletiva em Portugal, os desafios e as alternativas. Cadernos do Observatório sobre as Crises e as Alternativas, 8. Coimbra: CES.
Campos Lima, M. P., & Naumann, R. (2011). Portugal: From Broad Strategic Pacts to Policy-Specific Agreements. In S. Avdagic, M. Rhodes, & J. Visser (Eds.), Social Pacts in Europe: Emergence, Evolution and Institutionalization (pp. 147–173). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cerdeira, C., & Padilha, E. (1988). As Estruturas Sindicais Portugueses (1933–1985) (3 vols.). Lisboa: MESS (Série C-Trabalho).
Checchi, D., & Visser, J. (2005). Pattern Persistence in European Trade Union Density. A Longitudinal Analysis 1950–1996. European Sociological Review, 21(1), 1–21.
Ebbinghaus, B., & Visser, J. (1998). When Institutions Matter: Union Growth and Decline in Western Europe, 1950–95 (MZES Working Paper, AB I/30).
Freire, J. (2008). Economia e sociedade: contributos para uma sociologia da vida económica em Portugal na viragem do século. Lisboa: Celta Editora.
Harvey, D. (2005). A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Harvey, D. (2006). Neo-liberalism as Creative Destruction. Geografisker Annaler, 88(2), 145–158.
Howell, C. (1995). Trade Unions and the State: A Critique of British Industrial Relations. Politics & Society, 23(2), 149–183.
Howell, C. (2009). The Transformation of French Industrial Relations: Labor Representation and the State in a Post-Dirigiste Era. Politics & Society, 37(2), 229–256.
Howell, C., & Givan, R. K. (2011). Rethinking Institutions and Institutional Change in European Industrial Relations. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 49(2), 231–255.
Leite, J., Costa, H. A., Silva, M. C., & Almeida, J. R. (2014). Austeridade, reformas laborais e desvalorização do trabalho. In Observatório sobre Crises e Alternativas (Org.), A economia política do retrocesso: crise, causas e objetivos (pp. 127–188). Coimbra: Almedina and CES.
Marginson, P. (2016). Governing Work and Employment Relations in an Internationalized Economy: The Institutional Challenge. ILR Review, 69(5), 1033–1055.
Moury, C., & Standring, A. (2017). ‘Going Beyond the Troika’: Power and Discourse in Portuguese Austerity Politics. European Journal of Political Research, 56(3), 660–679.
Naumann, R. (2018). Reregulating the Extension of Collective Agreements in Portugal: A Case Study. In S. Hayter & J. Visser (Eds.), Collective Agreements: Extending Labour Protection (pp. 93–118). Geneva: International Labour Organisation.
O’Donnell, G., Schmitter, P., & Whitehead, L. (1986). Transitions from Authoritarian Rule: Southern Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Patrício, M. T., & Stoleroff, A. (1994). The Portuguese Communist Party: Perestroika and Its Aftermath. In M. J. Bull & P. Heywood (Eds.), Western European Communist Parties After the Revolutions of 1989 (pp. 90–118). Basingstoke: Macmillan Press.
Pinto, M. (1992). Trade Union Action and Industrial Relations in Portugal. In G. Baglioni & C. Crouch (Eds.), European Industrial Relations, the Challenge of Flexibility (pp. 243–264). London: Sage.
Portugal, P., & Vilares, H. (2013). Labor Unions, Union Density and the Union Wage Premium. Winter Economic Bulletin, Banco de Portugal, 61–71.
Ramalho, M. R. P. (2013). Portuguese Labour Law and Industrial Relations During the Crisis (ILO Working Paper, 54). Available at http://www.ilo.org/ifpdial/information-resources/publications/WCMS_232798/lang–en/index.htm.
Regini, M. (2000). The Dilemmas of Labour Market Regulation. In G. Esping-Anderson & M. Regini (Eds.), Why Deregulate Labour Markets? (pp. 11–29). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Regini, M. (2003). Work and Labor in Global Economies: The Case of Western Europe. Socio-Economic Review, 1(2), 165–184.
Rocha, F., & Stoleroff, A. (2014). The Challenges of the Crisis and the External Intervention in Portugal. In F. Rocha (Coord.), The New EU Economic Governance and Its Impact on the National Collective Bargaining Systems (pp. 150–174). Madrid: Fundacion 1º de Mayo.
Stoleroff, A. (1992). Corporatism and Class Struggle: The Portuguese Labour Movement and the Cavaco Silva Governments. West European Politics, 15(4), 118–150.
Stoleroff, A. (1995). Elementos do Padrão Emergente de Relações Industriais no Contexto da Restruturação: Alguns resultados de um inquérito nacional às médias e grandes empresas. Organizações e Trabalho, 13, 11–42.
Stoleroff, A. (2007). The Revolution in the Public Service Sector in Portugal: With or Without the Unions. Transfer, 13(4), 631–652.
Stoleroff, A. (2009). Company-Level Labour Relations and the Industrial Relations System in Portugal. In J. M. LeiteViegas, H. Carreiras, & A. Malamud (Orgs.), Institutions and Politics, Portugal in the European Context (Vol. I, pp. 213–236). Lisbon: Celta Editora.
Stoleroff, A. (2013). Employment Relations and Unions in Public Administration in Portugal and Spain: From Reform to Austerity. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 19(4), 309–323.
Stoleroff, A. (2016). The Portuguese Labour Movement and Industrial Democracy: From Workplace Revolution to a Precarious Quest for Economic Justice. Transfer, 22(1), 101–119.
Stoleroff, A., & Naumann, R. (1993). A Sindicalização em Portugal: A Sua Medida e a Sua Distribuição. Sociologia: Problemas e Práticas, 14, 19–47.
Streeck, W. (2011). The Crises of Democratic Capitalism. New Left Review, 71, 5–29.
Streeck, W., & Thelen, K. (2005). Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Távora, I., & González, P. (2015). Labour Market Regulation and Collective Bargaining in Portugal During the Crisis: Continuity and Change. Paper Presented at SASE, 27th Annual Meeting, July 2–4.
Venn, D. (2009). Legislation, Collective Bargaining and Enforcement: Updating the OECD Employment Protection Indicators (OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers, 89).
Visser, J. (2006). The Five Pillars of the European Social Model of Labour Relations. In J. Beckert, B. Ebbinghaus, A. Hassel, & P. Manov (Eds.), Transformationen des Kapitalismus (pp. 315–316). Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag.
Waddington, J., & Hoffmann, R. (Eds.). (2000). Trade Unions in Europe: Facing Challenges and Searching for Solution. Brussels: ETUI.
Wallerstein, M., & Western, B. (2000). Unions in Decline? What Has Changed and Why. Annual Review of Political Science, 3, 355–377.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Stoleroff, A. (2019). Trade Union Representation and Industrial Relations in Portugal Before, During and Following the Economic and Financial Crises. In: Costa Pinto, A., Pequito Teixeira, C. (eds) Political Institutions and Democracy in Portugal. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98152-9_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98152-9_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-98151-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-98152-9
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)