Algarve council workers back to a more relaxed 35-hour week

Paul 14 October 2015

olhao From November 1st, those Algarve council workers who had been forced to work a 40-hour week can relax back into their traditional 35-hours.

The Algarve mayors’ group, AMAL, made the announcement following the government’s failure at the Constitutional Court to have the 40-hour week imposed on all public sector workers.

The enhanced working week legislation was challenged by the Union of Public Administration Workers and the National Association of Parishes.

The Constitutional Court judges ruled that the 40-hour week rule was "interfering in the collective bargaining agreements between Portugal’s councils and their workers" which the judges saw as “a violation of the principle of autonomy of local government.”

AMAL president Jorge Botelho said the ruling was an “important decision” which had taken a full two years before a decision was announced.

In reality, many councils and did not impose the extra five hours of work on their staff as such an obvious loophole was deliberately left in the legislation that it was easy for any council to ignore the law with impunity.

Botelho said that the more relaxed 35-hour week would increase the well-being of council staff and enable them to “spend more time with their families and for leisure pursuits.”

The AMAL president’s thinking also leads him to believe that a lighter 35-hour week work schedule will help “guarantee an increase of productivity in the workplace” but did not hazard a guess as to how this could be achieved.

Comments

0 #4 Daphne 2015-10-15 14:37

So sad that the number of Portuguese now working over 50 hours a week (perhaps even doing 2 jobs) in Portugal has doubled since the OECD did its last survey.

Yet the Portuguese public sector, on good pay, excellent pensions, minimal hours and jobs for life have their cake and eat it.

http://www.oecd.org/std/how-s-life-23089679.htm

0 #3 Chip the Duck 2015-10-15 11:46

I never worked less than 50 hours per week in the UK, usually 55 - 60.

No wonder Portugal's standard of living is so low.

+5 #2 Jack P 2015-10-15 00:13

Maybe he was thinking of this:
or this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/business/measure-results-not-hours-to-improve-work-efficiency.html?_r=0

The NY Times link emphasises productivity gains from reducing the working week.

It would be interesting to see some empirical productivity data from councils from before and after the 35-hour week went to 40-hours and back to 35-hours again.

Throughput of approved planning applications, scaffolding licences etc could easily be measured.

My last planning application took 18 months to be approved and then was found, my having spent several hundred thousand euros building a house, to have been illegally granted by the local council in contravention of several immutable planning and regional land usage laws of which it was perfectly aware. So thanks for that...

I have found councils willing to say 'no' to just about everything asked, obstructive to normal business life and slow to the point of exasperation when carrying out simple administrative tasks.

Whether council staff work 35 hours a week or 55, if the culture of deliberate inefficiency remains, the hours are irrelevant.

0 #1 dw 2015-10-14 23:46

'The AMAL president’s thinking also leads him to believe that a lighter 35-hour week work schedule will help “guarantee an increase of productivity in the workplace” but did not hazard a guess as to how this could be achieved.'

Maybe he was thinking of this: http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2014/12/working-hours

or this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/business/measure-results-not-hours-to-improve-work-efficiency.html?_r=0

or
http://workawesome.com/productivity/productivity-path-short-hours-more-breaks/

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