At the plenary meeting of the Centre for Labour Relations on 13th december 2023, the new CRL Chairperson, Nuno Bernardo of the group of Confederations Employers, was appointed. He succeeded the seventh Chairperson of the CRL, Ana Olim of the group of representatives of the government.

At the plenary meeting of the Centre for Labour Relations on 3th november, the new CRL Chairperson, Carlos Alves of the group of representatives of trade union associations, was appointed. He succeeded the sixth Chairperson of the CRL, Ana Olim of the group of representatives of the government.

At the plenary meeting of the Centre for Labour Relations on 5th november, the new CRL Chairperson, Ana Olim of the group of representatives of the government, was appointed. She succeeded the fifth Chairperson of the CRL, Ana Vieira of Portuguese Commerce and Services Confederation (CCP), and representative of Confederations of Employers

At the plenary meeting of the Centre for Labour Relations on 30th June, the new CRL Chairperson, Ana Vieira of the Portuguese Commerce and Services Confederation (CCP), and representative of Confederations of Employers, was appointed. She succeeded the fourth Chairperson of the CRL, Sérgio Monte of the General Union of Workers (UGT), and representative of the Confederations of Trade Unions.

 At the plenary meeting of the Centre for Labour Relations on 18th February, the new CRL Chairperson, Sérgio Monte of the General Union of Workers (UGT), and representative of the Confederations of Trade Unions, was appointed. He succeeded the third Chairperson of the CRL, Dr. António Valadas da Silva of IEFP, and representative of the Portuguese Government

 

At the plenary meeting of the Centre for Labour Relations on 2nd November, the new CRL Chairperson, Dr. António Valadas da Silva of IEFP, and representative of the Portuguese Government, was appointed. He succeeded the second Chairperson of the CRL, Dr. Gregório da Rocha Novo, of the Portuguese Business Confederation (CIP), and representative of the Employers' Associations Group.

At the plenary meeting of the Centre for Labour Relations on 22nd September, the new CRL Chairperson, Dr. Gregório da Rocha Novo, of the Portuguese Business Confederation (CIP), and representative of the Employers' Associations Group, was appointed. He succeeded the first Chairperson of the CRL, Eng. João Proença, of the General Union of Workers (UGT), and representative of the Group of the Union Associations.

On 31^st July 2015, the Centre for Labour Relations (CRL) started its activity by holding its first plenary meeting, following the Order to appoint its members by the Minister of Solidarity, Employment and Social Security, after a proposal from the Employers and Union Confederations represented in the Standing Committee for Social Concertation (CPCS). The Minister of Employment and Social Security and the Secretary of State for Employment opened the meeting. At that meeting, the CRL's internal rules of procedure were approved and the first Chairperson of the CRL, Eng. João Proença, was appointed on behalf of the General Union of Workers (UGT) of the Confederations of Trade Unions.

Thus, this Public Administration body came into full operation with very special characteristics, being a tripartite body, comprising of four (4) representatives of the Government appointed by the Minister of Labour, four (4) representatives of the Confederations of Trade Unions, and four (4) representatives of the Employers' Confederations. These are representatives who, among themselves, choose the Chairperson, with a one-year term, under a rotation scheme, previously agreed between the three Groups.

In August 2012, the Centre for Labour Relations was formed by means of the Decree-Law no. 189/2012 of 22nd August, thus translating the successive commitment, since 1996, within the framework of social concertation, to promote collective bargaining, reiterated in the Commitment for Growth, Competitiveness and Employment of 18th January 2012. With the establishment of the Centre for Labour Relations, the Employment and Professional Training Observatory (OEFP), whose competencies are integrated in the CRL, ceased to exist.

In the Tripartite Agreement for Competitiveness and Employment, held in March 2011 in the scope of the Standing Committee for Social Concertation, it was envisaged that, after consulting the social partners, the creation of the Centre for Labour Relations would be approved by the end of March 2011.
In the same year, on 17th May, the Memorandum of Understanding on Economic Policy Conditions, endorsed by the Government, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, states that, in the context of the Labour Market, the Government will promote wage adjustments in line with productivity at the firm level. To that purpose, it will: (i) implement the commitments in the Tripartite Agreement of March 2011 concerning the "organised decentralisation", notably concerning: (...) (ii) the creation of a Labour Relations Centre supporting social dialogue with improved information and providing technical assistance to parties involved in negotiations; (point 4.8, p.23), having envisaged that actions for the implementation of this measure would be taken by the fourth quarter of 2011.

Having been the subject of deep reflection on social concertation, not only in 2005, but also in recent years, the draft diploma on the creation of the Centre for Labour Relations is presented for public review in January 2006 in the Bulletin of Labour and Employment (Section no. 2).

In January 2005, in the Agreement signed by all confederations represented in the CPCS - Agreement between the confederations represented in the CPCS, aiming to stimulate collective bargaining - the underwriting Confederations stated that a Centre for Labour Relations should be created, with tripartite initiative and composition, whose main competences would be to support each of the trade union and employers Confederations in the training of negotiators, to prepare and disclose bulletins or reports of socio-economic information on a monthly, quarterly and semi-annual basis, to carry out studies on collective bargaining, and disclose other studies on the same subject, prepared in Portugal or in other EU countries, to prepare an annual report on "The evolution of collective bargaining” (point 9, page 3)

The establishment of an Labor Relations Center was foreseen for the first time in the 1996-1999 Strategic Concertation Agreement, signed by the CAP, CCP, CIP, UGT and the Government. In this Agreement, the Government, in liaison with the underwriting Social Partners and after reviewing the Standing Committee on Social Concertation (CPCS), undertook to promote and encourage the development of collective bargaining, notably through the creation of a “Center for Tripartite work, initiative and management to support and promote social dialogue, both in terms of socio-economic information and the training of negotiators, as well as in the analysis of business content and the promotion of conflict resolution mechanisms ”(paragraph 1.3.2., P.87).