UGT Unanimously Rejects Government Labour Reform — PS Also Refuses to Back Trabalho XXI in Parliament

Portugal's UGT, the country's second-largest and traditionally more moderate trade union confederation, voted unanimously on Wednesday to reject the government's sweeping Trabalho XXI labour reform package — dealing a significant blow to Prime Minister Luís Montenegro's flagship employment policy.

Hours later, the PS (Socialist Party) — the largest opposition force — warned that it will not vote for the reform in parliament, further narrowing the government's path to passing the legislation.

What the UGT Decided

Meeting in a special session of its Secretariado Nacional on April 9, the UGT concluded that "conditions for a consensus are not yet met" on the proposed revision of the Labour Code. The union said the current draft does not go far enough to protect workers and called for stronger collective bargaining rights.

However, the UGT stopped short of a full rupture. It signalled that it remains open to continued dialogue at the Concertação Social (the tripartite social consultation body that brings together government, unions, and employers), provided the government makes meaningful concessions.

"The UGT will take this position to the Concertação Social, remaining available for dialogue, but firm in defending fairer, more balanced labour legislation with stronger collective bargaining and stronger unions," the official resolution stated.

Government Says "The Door Is Open"

Speaking at a press conference after the Council of Ministers meeting on Thursday, Presidency Minister António Leitão Amaro said the government had noted the UGT's position and confirmed it was willing to continue negotiating.

"We will await the official UGT position and can affirm that the government has the door open to complete the negotiation," Leitão Amaro said. He clarified that the process remains in the social concertation phase — not yet the parliamentary phase — and that all social partners appear willing to keep talking.

PS Draws a Red Line

The political dynamics shifted further when PS deputy Miguel Cabrita warned that the Socialists "will not count on" PS support to approve the labour reform in the Assembleia da República. The PS holds enough seats to block the legislation if it allies with unions' parliamentary allies, potentially forcing the minority PSD-led government to seek support from Chega or IL — both of which have very different visions of labour market reform.

In contrast, the Iniciativa Liberal (IL) urged the government to bypass the Concertação Social entirely and submit the bill to parliament "without further delays". IL deputy Mariana Leitão argued that "the position of the UGT reveals once again that the Concertação Social no longer represents workers."

The Bigger Picture

The Trabalho XXI package proposes changes to more than 100 articles of the Labour Code. After 53 rounds of negotiation and a general strike organised by the CGTP in December 2025, the most contentious provisions include:

• Extended fixed-term contracts: Maximum duration from 2 years to 3 years, with renewals up to 6 years.
• Easier dismissal rules: Streamlined procedures for terminating underperforming employees.
• Working time flexibility: Expanded use of time banks and annualised hours.
• Gig economy regulation: New framework for platform workers, though unions say it still favours employers.

The CGTP, Portugal's largest and more combative union, has already called a national strike and march on Parliament for April 17. With the UGT now also rejecting the current draft, the government faces opposition from both wings of the labour movement — a rare unified front that significantly complicates its legislative agenda. Worker take-home pay is shaped by the tax code — for details on current brackets see our guide to the IRS brackets and IFICI regime.

What Happens Next

The ball is back in the government's court. If Leitão Amaro's olive branch yields fresh concessions in the Concertação Social, the UGT could yet come on board — potentially splitting the union front. If not, the reform moves to parliament without social partner backing, where it faces a hostile PS, an ambivalent Chega, and pressure from both the left and liberal right to reshape the bill in opposite directions. The pressure is mounting further — the CGTP has now called a CGTP national strike on April 17.

Union discontent extends beyond labour law — see our report on parliament voting down a PS resolution on cost-of-living relief.

Related reading: UGT Chumba the Trabalho XXI Overhaul — Palma Ramalho Pegs 7 May as Concertação's Last Day Before the Diploma Heads to Parlamento

Background: See Eurostat's Workers' Day reading on weekend work in Portugal.

Background: See the SNS 24 autobaixa cap-cohort climbing to 284,000 by end-Q1 2026.

Background: See STTS calls a 24-hour health-sector stoppage for Monday and Tuesday with a 5 May Hospital Santa Maria demonstration. On the calendar side, our Week Ahead 11-17 May 2026 read on the IGCP auction, Mota-Engil Q1, the Trabalho XXI anteprojeto, the Fátima pilgrimage and the United Newark-Faro restart sets the latest reference. On the Portuguese media-and-press-freedom tape, our read on the Lusa workers' 24-hour strike of Wednesday 20 May 2026 — SJ, SITESE and SITE CSRA concentrate at São Bento as Parliament debates the agency's Estatuto revision and the RTP-campus relocation file sets the latest reference. On the public-finance-control architecture, our read on the 14 May 2026 Tribunal de Contas Comissão Permanente parecer branding the Government's TdC reform bill 'verdadeiramente inconstitucional' on the €10 million visto-prévio carve-out and the halving of the externally-controlled spending perimeter from €10 bn to €5 bn sets the latest reference. On the labour-reform political track, our 21 May PS-counter-Labour-Reform read — José Luís Carneiro branding the executive's Código do Trabalho overhaul a 'contrarreforma laboral' from the Largo do Rato national headquarters, confirming the socialist bench will vote against on the general phase, and queueing a competitiveness-and-wages alternative package for the week of 26 May after wrapping the Concertação Social round with CGTP on Friday 22 May sets the latest reference. On the pension and retirement-age politics side, our 24 May read on Montenegro's 29th JSD Congress address in Viseu — the prime minister ruling out a pension floor pegged to the €920 minimum wage and walking back of the 66-and-9-months retirement age, while João Pedro Luís, 24, takes the JSD presidency with 58% on a Rui Rio-era pedigree sets the latest reference. On the Portuguese carga-horária read, our 27 May read on Pordata's Eurostat-based labour tape setting the Portuguese working week at 37.4 hours — 1.5 hours above the 35.9-hour EU-27 average and sixth among the 27 Member States, with the hospitality, manufacturing and transport stacks pulling the national mean up and the public-sector and education stacks pulling it down sets the latest reference.