COLLECTIVE LABOUR AGREEMENT

» Concept

The collective labour agreement is a negotiable collective labour regulation instrument, through which the parties – representatives of the employer entity and the public employees – govern several aspects of the employment relationship

Collective labour agreement is thus a contract between the public employer entity and the public employees, these ones through the respective trade union associations. Its conclusion depends upon agreement of the parties that within the contract negotiation scope are on an equal footing

According to their scope of application, collective labour agreements may be collective career agreements or collective public employer entity agreements, being in any case applicable only to public employees’ members of signatory trade union associations fulfilling functions in covered employer entities

Collective labour agreements are articulated, and the collective career agreement shall indicate the matters that may be regulated by collective public employer entity agreements

» Collective career agreement

The collective career agreement is a negotiable collective labour regulation instrument, applicable to a career or to 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 careers or of special careers, according to the 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 public employer entity agreement

The collective public employer entity agreement is a negotiable collective labour regulation instrument, applicable to a public employer entity, with or without legal personality, corresponding in the private labour law typology, although with specificities, to the so called company agreement provided for in the Labour Code

The collective public employer entity agreements, in the absence of a collective career agreement that indicates the matters that may be regulated by it, only may rule on matters of safety, hygiene and health at work, working time duration and organization, excluding those matters related to compensation supplements

Collective public employer entity agreements may be concluded,

By trade union associations:

- Trade union confederations represented in the Permanent Committee for Social Dialogue

and

- The other trade union association’s representatives of the respective public employees

By the public employer entity:

- Government members responsible for finance and public administration areas and the one who oversees the body or service, as well as the own public employer entity