Changes to labour legislation and tensions within the Geringonça: alternative visions of labour market regulation in Portugal

Abstract

This article analyzes the 2019 Portuguese labor reform as a critical case of political-social bloc formation in the context of a center-left minority government supported by the left. Based on a content analysis of parliamentary debates, official documents, and press coverage, complemented by interviews with political actors and social partners, the article shows how different conceptions of labor market regulation structured two opposing blocs in the legislative process. The socialist government favored a de-segmentation strategy focused on outsider workers, anchored in social dialogue and compatible with maintaining measures from the Troika era, while radical left-wing parties advocated for more comprehensive re-regulation, based on reversing liberalizing reforms. The analysis shows that this divide shaped parliamentary alignments in 2019 and had implications for cooperation on the left in the subsequent period.