Portugal

Organization responsible for the statistics

The statistics are collected by the Ministério do Emprego e da Segurança Social (MESS) in collaboration with the Direcç&atild;o Gêral das Relaçôes do Trabalho and the Departamento de Estatística. They are compiled and published by the Departamento de Estatística.

Objectives and users

Not available.

Coverage

Strikes and lockouts

The statistics cover: General strikes at the national level are excluded.

Lockouts are expressly forbidden in the legislation on strikes.

Minimum threshold None.

Economic activities

Although the agricultural sector is not specifically excluded, its coverage is limited. Since the new methodology was introduced in 1986, public administration has been excluded.

Workers

Workers directly involved only. In addition to regular paid employees, including part-time workers, the statistics cover temporary, casual and seasonal workers. Unpaid family workers are not included, nor are workers laid off, or workers absent on sick or annual leave or absent for any other reason.

No particular occupational groups are excluded.

Geographic areas

Whole country.

Other

Since the methodological changes introduced in 1986, the autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores have been excluded. The data relate only to the mainland; Madeira and the Azores, where the number of strikes is not significant, are not included because of technical reasons.

Systematically, since 1986, the statistics cover establishments with at least five workers. However, enterprises in certain industries where economic units are almost all smaller than this are also taken into account.

Types of data collected

The number of workers involved, duration and time not worked are not measured in cases of working to rule or overtime bans.

Concepts and definitions

Strike (greve)

A temporary concerted refusal by a group of workers to work during normal periods of work, with the aim of forcing the employing body or the public authorities to accede to their demands. The data collected also cover temporary disruptions of work (working to rule, go-slows, etc.).

This definition has been developed for the purposes of statistics, theory and jurisprudence.

Methods of measurement

Strikes and lockouts

The basic unit of measurement used to record a strike is the strike notice. The resumption of a work stoppage that is interrupted but later starts again, still due to the same case of dispute, can be counted either as a new strike or as a continuation of the same strike, depending on the strike notice.

Work stoppages arising from the same case of dispute, occurring simultaneously or at different times in different establishments of the same enterprise or in establishments of different enterprises, are counted as the same or different strikes, depending on the strike notice.

Economic units involved

The economic unit is the establishment, defined as a unit that engages, under a single ownership or control, in the production of one, or predominantly one, homogeneous group of goods or services at a single physical location.

Workers involved

The number of workers involved is the highest number of workers involved at any one time during the strike. Part-time workers are counted as individuals on the same basis as full-time workers.

Duration

The duration is measured in workdays. It is calculated for each establishment, from the day the strike began among the first group of workers involved up to the day it terminated among the last group of workers involved.

The ratio of the duration of the work stoppage to the normal period of work is calculated for each establishment involved, on each day of the strike and each normal period of work in the establishment. The duration on each day of the strike is taken as the duration in the establishment with the highest ratio among all the establishments involved. The total duration of the strike is the sum of the durations thus calculated for each day of the work stoppage.

Time not worked

Total time not worked is measured in workdays. For each day of the strike and each establishment involved, the number of hours of stoppage is multiplied by the number of workers involved. The number of days not worked refers to the number of hours not worked divided by the normal hours of work per day for each establishment involved. The total time not worked is the sum of the days not worked for each establishment involved. The shorter working hours of part-time workers are not taken into account, nor is overtime.

Classifications

Cause of dispute

Outcome of dispute

(in terms of claims)

Branch of economic activity

The data are classified by branch of economic activity using a national classification, Classificaç&atild;o por Actividades Económicas Portuguesas por Ramo de Actividade (CAE, version 1, 1973), adapted from ISIC 1968.

The number of multisector or general strikes is not classified by branch of economic activity but appears in a separate category. However, the economic units involved, and the information concering workers involved, duration and time not worked, is classified according to the sector or branch of economic activity of these economic units.

Duration

(in workdays)

Type of dispute

Reference period and periodicity

The statistics are compiled for periods of a month, a quarter and a year, and published for periods of a quarter and a year. They relate to strikes beginning during the particular reference period as well as those continuing from the previous period.

Analytical measures

Historical background of the series

Not available.

Documentation

Series available

Not available.

Bibliographic references

Ministério do Emprego e da Segurança social: Informaç&atild;o Estatística (Síntese) - Greves (quarterly and annual);

Idem: Série Relatórios e Análises - Conflitos Colectivos de Trabalho (quarterly and annual). Data published by the ILO The number of strikes, the number of workers involved and the number of days not worked, by economic activity.

There is a break in the series between 1985 and 1986 when a revised methodology was applied. This description concerns the practices currently applied.

Confidentiality

Not available.

International standards

Not available.

Methods of data collection

There is a legal obligation applying to the trade union associations to report the occurrence of a strike to the MESS, and to the employing body or an association of employers. The information to be furnished in the strike notice is not defined by law, but it generally covers: the identification of the enterprise(s) or sector(s) involved; the duration (months, days or hours); the demands involved.

Up to 1985, the data were collected via the regional services of the Ministério do Emprego, from newspaper reports or strike notices. Since 1986, they have been collected using the following methods: either a statistical form is sent to the establishment involved, which completes it, or the form is filled in by the services of the Direcç&atild;o Gêral de Relaçôes de Trabalho on the basis of the information supplied in the strike notice. The data are processed by computer.