“No counterparts in the Government, the minimum wage may not exceed the 540 euros” – TVI24

The president of the Confederation of Trade and Services of Portugal (CCP) considers that “without the benefits of the Government, the minimum wage may not exceed 540 euros”.

In an interview published in the Daily News, João Vieira Lopes said that it is “very difficult” in the next week, in the new meeting of the social dialogue, the Government and social partners reach agreement on minimum wage increase.

“it Is very difficult, for two types of reasons. We are not sure if, in fact, the Government wants an agreement, because an agreement, as is customary to say, has numbered pages and odd numbered pages,” he noted, adding that in the first “entities to make compromises” and, in the latter, “have few counterparts”.

what happens is that, to make an agreement involving the business sector, and that involves some setbacks in some areas – labour, wage or other-the government has put a set of counterparts, either of character economic, be it tax-related, that allow the companies to accept this situation. Is what has been happening in all the agreements,” he said.

he Stressed that today does not see “the part of the Government contrapropostas in which the companies are satisfied to be able to make some compromise,” adding that the minimum wage “is a very sensitive point”.

Because – he explained – the weight of the minimum wage in the companies of the area of the restoration is “significant” and in the area of trade “more heterogeneous”, but in the areas of the call are labor-intensive, such as “cleaning, merchandising` and all this kind of services, comes the stick 80% of weight”.

the president of The CCP has not advanced, however, with the value that the confederation, which is presided by advocates for the fixing of the minimum wage in 2017, claiming to be a theme of “great social sensitivity, to the extent that the minimum wages in Portugal are low”.

“it Is very easy to make populist demagogy, saying that increases of 30 cents, 40 cents, 50 cents. Now, for us, the problem is economic. The sectors in which the minimum wage has no weight or are able to reflect on the costs of the products and services that sell these wages or are unable to. If you can, very well, the more money there is in circulation, the better, in particular for the trade and the services. If they don’t get…”, he added.