collective career agreement

The collective career agreement is a negotiable collective labour regulation instrument, applicable to a career or a set of careers, irrespective of the bodies or services where the public employees therein integrated fulfil functions.

Collective career agreements may be of general or special careers, according to recipient public employees, who are integrated in one or another type of career.

The legitimacy to conclude these agreements varies according to the careers’ type and activity areas on which are focused and to the trade union associations’ representativeness, the criteria of which are set by law.

Collective general career agreements may be concluded,

By trade union associations:

• trade union confederations represented in the Permanent Committee for Social Conciliation;
• trade union associations with a number of unionized public employees that corresponds to, at least, 5% of the total number of public employees fulfilling public functions;
• trade union associations that represent public employees of all public administrations and, in the state administration, in all ministries, provided that the unionized public employees corresponds to, at least, 2,5% of the total number of public employees performing public functions;
• trade union associations that present a single proposal of conclusion or review of a collective labour agreement and that jointly comply with criteria of point 2 or of point 3, making, in this case, the negotiation process run together.

By public employer entities:

• The Government members responsible for finance and public administration areas.

Collective special career agreements may be concluded,

By trade union associations:

• trade union confederations represented at the Permanent Committee for Social Conciliation;
• trade union associations that account for, at least, 5% of the total number of workers integrated in the special career in question. 

By public employer entities:

• government members in charge of finance and public administration areas and
• the remaining concerned Government members according to the careers which are object of agreements. 

Matters covered by collective career agreements,

Apart from the matters covered in the General Labour Law in Public Functions (LTFP) or in special regulation, the collective labour regulation instrument can only be applied to the following matters:

a) Compensation supplements;
b) Performance related rewarding systems;
c) Adapted and specific performance appraisal systems;
d) Working time term and organization systems;
e) Mobility regimes;
f) Supplementary social action.

The collective labour regulation instrument shall not:

a) Contradict a mandatory legal rule;
b) Decide on Public Administration structure, functions and competencies;
c) Confer retroactive effectiveness to any clause other than a compensation nature one.