In Labor Law, the candidates highlighted the biggest differences. João Cotrim agrees with the general strike. “If the social partners do not reach an agreement with the Government, the strike is a legitimate right”, he considers, speaking after a labor law that is “a step forward towards adapting to what is coming.” “It will make adjustments, avoid collective dismissals and this has happened abnormally in Portugal. It’s not the perfect labor package, there could be more balance. I’m against the proposals regarding breastfeeding, for example”, he details, considering, however, that “Portugal has a high rate of precariousness and that rigidity has not helped.”
Jorge Pinto found a “profound difference” between the two. “We have three major employment problems. We are the second most precarious European country, we have a high wage gap between men and women and a low birth rate. This package doesn’t solve anything. This right wing wants to transform Portugal into Bangladesh. There is nothing to indicate that this law will increase wages. It will harm the decision to have the first child, there is instability in employment”, he explained.
Cotrim closed the employment section, focusing on companies. “I heard Jorge Pinto say that we have to grow and increase salaries and I should ask why companies don’t come to Portugal? We have a tax burden, excessive bureaucracy and labor rigidity. Without these jobs, it will be impossible to pay salaries higher than that. We all want salaries to rise and that only happens as more companies grow”he concluded.
The environment was a theme too. Jorge Pinto stressed that “it is the great challenge of our era, but it does not go alone, it goes hand in hand with the economy.” “It is with the best ecological transition that we can make the best economic transition“, he said, after giving examples of Livre’s proposals and recalling China’s strength in adapting battery models.
João Cotrim de Figueiredo used the example of China to attack his opponent. “I detect contradictions, at the same time as we talk about technologies combined with the energy transition, Jorge Pinto talks about China, where technological achievements can be seen, but with environmental crimes. He cannot say that China is successful”, he said. Then, he declared a preference. “I’m on the side of human well-being and I will choose that over environmental goals if there is a choice,” he declared.