Journal articles on the topic 'Labor unions, portugal'

El texto trata de la dimensión internacional de la transición sindical en Portugal y España. En concreto, analiza la contribución de la socialdemocracia alemana a la reconstrucción del movimiento sindical socialista, muy débil en ambos países al iniciarse el proceso de transición. Muestra cómo el temor a que el predominio comunista en las dos grandes centrales ibéricas, Intersindical y Comisiones Obreras, significase un factor de inestabilidad permanente en las nacientes democracias, movió a la DGB y la Fundación Ebert a implicarse masivamente en apoyo de las modestas organizaciones socialistas. El texto explora las líneas maestras de la colaboración con los cuadros sindicales del Partido Socialista portugués y con la española Unión General de Trabajadores. El autor defiende la tesis, que podrá refrendarse o refutarse cuando se permita el acceso a algunas fuentes relevantes en Madrid y Lisboa, que el apoyo alemán fue crucial para el meteórico ascenso del histórico sindicato socialista español y para la creación de homónima central portuguesa União Geral de Trabalhadores. AbstractThis paper deals with the international dimension of the trade union transition in Portugal and Spain in the 1970s. It analyzes the contribution of German social democracy to the reconstruction of the socialist labor movement, which were extremely weak in both countries at the beginning of the transitions. It shows how the fear that the communist dominance in the two great Iberian unions, Intersindical and Comisiones Obreras, meant a permanent instability factor in the nascent democracies, moved the DGB and the Ebert Foundation to massively support the modest socialist labor movement. The text explores the main lines of the cooperation with the trade union cadres of the Portuguese Socialist Party and with the Spanish Unión General de Trabajadores. The author holds the thesis, which can be endorsed or refuted when access to some relevant sources in Madrid and Lisbon is allowed, that German support was crucial for the meteoric rise of the historic Spanish socialist union and for the creation of the homonym Portuguese União Geral de Trabalhadores.

Public-sector workers in many countries earn more, on average, than their private-sector peers with similar characteristics. In terms of economic theory, these rewards represent economic rents most of which paid by a nation’s taxpayers. In contrast to economic rents accruing to recipients at the top of income distribution, most of these payments flow from one group of workers to another. For this reason, we call these payments “horizontal” economic rents. The level of horizontal rents is analyzed in this paper for 28 OECD countries, mostly representing Europe, based on public-private sector pay gap data from a number of studies. We found that measured as a ratio of public-sector overpayments to GDP, the highest horizontal rents are paid to government workers in Mediterranean EU countries. These rents are relatively low in larger EU countries, such as Germany and the United Kingdom and negative in Scandinavian countries, possibly reflecting the recognition of the non-monetary benefits of public employment, such as job security. Analyzing the determinants of horizontal rents, we found that their levels are lower in countries with stronger trade unions, as measured by trade-unions density and higher in countries with larger foreign-born populations. Macroeconomic variables, including GDP per capita, trade openness, labor force participation and government indebtedness were found to not measurably influence the level of horizontal rents. Further research is seen to be connected with a wider range of the countries under analysis, including the developing countries, and the other groups of employees with the horizontal economic rent, as well as the possible ways to decrease or to invalidate it as regards the practices analysis of the countries with the negligible or negative rent such as Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, and Iceland.

Twenty five years after Portuguese EU accession, the labour market in general and the trade unions in particular are faced with severely regressive social measures that undermine past expectations of progress towards the achievement of the Social Europe project in Portugal. Thus, on the one hand, this article identifies some of the ambitions and possibilities earlier opened up for the Portuguese labour market, as well as trade union attitudes to European integration. It is argued, on the other hand, that, in the context of the economic crisis and the austerity measures to which Portugal is subjected, the sense of Portugal’s backwardness in relation to the ‘European project’ has become more acute. The article accordingly focuses on and examines some of the austerity measures and certain controversial issues associated with them. In a final section, the impact of austerity on labour relations and the reactions of social partners, in particular the trade unions, are analysed.

<p><strong>Introduction:</strong> Nowadays, Portuguese birth rate is insufficient to ensure renewal of generations. Women high education levels and labor market integration and increased economic difficulties are some of multiple factors leading to a delay in average parenting age and an increase of infertility; also subject to others such as obesity, smoking and alcohol consumption.<br /><strong>Material and Methods:</strong> Transversal epidemiological study, analytical, uncontrolled, from self-filled online questionnaires, promoted by students’ university unions. A sample of 3585 university students was considered and a global and by gender statistic analysis was done through SPSS, Excel was used to build graphics and tables and ArcMap to represent maps. <strong>Results:</strong> Mainly students from the Health Sciences (40.6%), Universidade de Lisboa (59.4%), female (76.9%), median age of 22; intention to marry/ union 71.0%, parenthood 85.7%. A total of 18.4% smoke, 22.3% consume alcohol and obesity 15.4%; employment (47.4%) and the partner’s will (39.9%) were important determinants for parenthood decision as well as having financial stability to provide a good education (33.6%) and healthcare (38.6%); A total of 53.6% have considered the hypothesis of infertility and highlight above 35 year old maternal age (18.7%), obesity (18%) and female smoking (19.0) as factors. Higher and more significant values for smoking (p = 0.001) and alcohol consumption (p = 0.000) in males were found.<br /><strong>Discussion:</strong> The sample seems representative, well distributed among different areas of study, with more female respondents than the university portuguese ratio. There are more students with parenting projects than marriage/cohabitation, in accordance with Portuguese data. Nevertheless, the same students identify the family as a priority in comparison with employment and career. Parenting decisions are tied by social-economic situation but an important factor is the low fertility due to the maternal age delay of the first pregnancy.<br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> University student unions are an excellent instrument to access them; a high number of respondents consider having children but delay the decision; there is a lack of information about the consequences of delaying parenting age and about infertility factors. The negative trend of fertility must be seen as a necessity to develop specific policies.</p><p><br /><strong>Keywords:</strong> Birth Rate; Students; Universities; Fertility; Portugal.</p>

As a cross-cutting issue encompassing all of society, the evolution of digital technologies is particularly challenging to traditional labour actors that are accustomed to physical work and face-to-face contact. This article discusses the distinctive possibilities of social media use as a forward-thinking global strategy for organised labour. After an initial clarification of useful concepts to consider in the digital age, we focus on the social media presence of trade unions, identifying the pros and cons associated with platform-based communication. Finally, the article debates the implications of social media platforms as tools to strengthen networks with nonunion actors and contribute to the amplification of the labour agenda. Through a comparative analysis of four trade union confederations, two from Brazil and two from Portugal, we argue that, despite the possibilities for outreach and interaction enabled by the new communication and information technologies, trade union confederations maintain constricted networks and an outdated top-down communications model.

This paper seeks to capture how unions are perceived by young workers in Portugal and to identify different types of perceptions. Our analysis considers both structural factors and subjective experiences and is based on semi-structured interviews with young people working in sectors with a high concentration of youth employment. The fact that young workers are increasingly exposed to the pressures of unemployment and precarious work might suggest that there is homogeneity in their perceptions about trade unions and collective action. However, our results show that young workers’ perceptions are not homogenous and that they interconnect with distinct segments, characterized by different socio-economic conditions, as defined by family status, education level and position in the labour market. Three types of perceptions were identified by content analysis of the interviews: positive, negative and critical perceptions. A final segment of younger and less-skilled workers, of families with low educational and economic resources and having left school prematurely, have neither information nor any understanding about unions. Our findings support the thesis that diversity of educational and early labour market experiences, which characterize transition processes to adulthood, shape the relation between young workers and unions, in particular the motivation to join unions. Capturing the diversity of young workers experiences and perceptions is a challenge to industrial relations research, as well as to trade unionism. It can provide unions with important insights into how to adapt their strategies to recruit new young members and to mobilize the latent interests of young workers in collective action.

Institutional resources are one of the sources of power available to trade unions, but recent literature has tended to pay less attention to these than to associational and organizational resources. We examine institutional resources in three Southern European countries, Greece, Portugal and Spain, which share many common characteristics. However, the character of institutional resources in Spanish industrial relations is distinctive. We examine the plasticity of industrial relations institutions in Spain in terms of labour market outcomes but argue that institutional security is an essential platform for unions seeking to develop other sources of power.

Since the onset of the public deficit crisis in 2001–2002, three successive Portuguese governments have promoted a transformation of public sector employment relations with the aim of bringing them into line with the private sector. Given the importance both of employment in the public sector and of public sector unions to the overall labour movement, the outcome of these reforms will have a decisive impact upon industrial relations in Portugal. The Portuguese public sector unions have consistently claimed that the government has presented them with preconceived reform packages, has not bargained and has in fact imposed its concept of the reforms. This article analyses the relationship between the government and the unions in negotiating the reforms, focusing on the degree of conflict involved and the extent to which the reforms have proceeded within the framework of social dialogue.

Working on digital platforms is a new form of work that, in Portugal, has not yet defined a regulated model of labour relations. This article analyses the worker profiles of various digital work platforms and their collective representation in Portugal. The diversity found in the case studies of worker profiles from each platform explains, in part, the lack of interest of labour movements in representing them. The type of tasks and the workplace contributes to the lack of interest in the search for collective representatives and demonstrates the (mis)alignments that occurred between workers and possible representatives. There is also potential for other alignments between the interests of different workers, trade union movements and associations of alternative representation

The labor insertion of the population is a complex process, which requires the consideration of a good number of variables and the approach from multiple levels. On the one hand, it is important to analyze this procedure according to the conditions of the labor market and the characteristics of the individuals that make up the existing human capital in each country. Portugal has experienced in the period from 2006 to 2016 a process of economic crisis (2008), which provoked in 2011 the intervention of the European Union. In spite of everything, in this context where the socio-economic situation is impaired, the recovery becomes latent and the growth path has been maintained, which has had an impact on educational levels and labor insertion. The main objective of this research is to analyze the levels of tertiary education reached by the employed population in the period 2006 to 2016, differentiating between workers hired by third parties (dependents) or self-employed (independent).

This article examines the problems of the single currency in light of the organization of labour relations in the Member States and their interaction with monetary policies. Continental (western) Europe consists of two very different systems of employment and labour relations, roughly coinciding with ‘coordinated market economies’ in the north-west of the continent, and ‘Mixed Market Economies’ in the south. These differences in employment relations and wage-setting systems implied that, against the background of a relatively restrictive one-size-fits-all monetary policy in place since 1999, the north-west of the continent systematically improved its competitiveness, while the south lost competitiveness in parallel. Small differences between the two groups of countries at the start of EMU thus were accentuated and, against the background of low growth and an almost closed E(M)U economy, the northern coordinated market economies accumulated current account surpluses while the GIIPS (Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Spain) ran into severe balance of payments problems in 2010 and 2011.

The authors considered historical and topical issues of the international division of labor (MRT). The analysis and parallel of MRI data by ancient scientists, researchers, scientists and experts of the XVIII, XIX, and XXI centuries. On the example of the European Union countries Greece, Spain and Portugal, the analysis of GDP, wages and unemployment as key indicators that characterize the economy of countries is carried out. The historical «cycle» of social structures is given and the dynamics of the ratio of the upper (B), middle (C) and lower (H) classes is shown. It shows the current problems of world markets, taking into account sanctions, trade wars and the consequences of the pandemic. Prospects for the national division of labor (NDT) are defined.

Abstract Since the emergence of the crisis of capitalist globalization in 2008, the deconstruction of the Fordist wage relationship and the rising unemployment in various countries have stimulated the growth of labour informality, distancing workers from labour protection, intensifying turnover and stimulating intermittent employment. Collective bargaining has become increasingly rare and decentralized, and jobs increasingly precarious and individualized, undermining the protective capacity of the ‘moral economy of the poor’ and transforming direct action - that is, popular action without the mediation of unions and traditional political parties - into perhaps the only credible alternative for ‘precarious workers’ to express their demands in a world marked by the commodification of labour, basic services and housing. A return to the era of the ‘class struggle without class’? This is the conjecture that this article sets out to evaluate, comparing the class experience of poor and precarious workers in three countries from the so-called Global South: Portugal, South Africa and Brasil.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of the Great Recession (2008-2014) on the labor market profiles and integration process in the European Union (EU26) and in the 12 historical Eurozone countries. Design/methodology/approach This study assesses the impact of the crisis, and applies multivariate statistical methods containing a principal component analysis and an agglomerative hierarchical clustering. Two non-overlapping sub-periods are established: a pre-crisis (1999-2007) period and a crisis (2008-2014) period, and eight European indicators are considered. Findings The results are threefold. First, they bring strong evidence of a significant impact of the crisis on the process of integration. Second, they interestingly reveal more heterogeneity in the aftermath of the crisis across the EU countries, while more homogeneity across the Eurozone countries. Third, this apparent homogenization is accompanied by a polarization process into two main groups of countries including Spain, Portugal, Finland and the Netherlands in one group while the rest of the Eurozone in the other. Originality/value This study is unique as it does not only present a snapshot of the challenges posed by the Great Recession to the European Union and Eurozone labor market profiles, but it also assesses its impact on their integration process. In addition, using the, suitable yet ignored, multivariate statistical methods on the latest data to study such an impact is another contribution of this paper.

This study shows the differences in wages of workers from the EU countries according to various levels of education. It also shows the level of offshoring in the analysed countries and its impact on the salaries. It was found that the largest wage gap between the high-skilled and the low-skilled workers exists both in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and in the countries such as Germany and Portugal. Results of the analysis show that offshoring contributes to a decrease in wages of workers in the countries of the European Union. Nonetheless, the highest decrease in wages is visible among workers with the lowest skills, and the lowest decrease can be seen among workers with the highest skills.

Abstract The war in Ukraine has caused a massive influx of people seeking protection in the European Union and has led to the activation, for the first time, of the Temporary Protection Directive. Although this influx mainly affects neighbouring countries, such as Poland and Romania, Portugal triggered, as early as 1 March 2022, the national temporary protection regime, thus granting immediate protection to people who were arriving because of the war. This article analyses this temporary protection regime, as well as the measures adopted to allow the rapid integration of those displaced persons, such as simplifying the recognition of professional qualifications, essential for their access to the labour market. Being special measures that only benefit citizens affected by the war in Ukraine, their compatibility with the constitutional principle of equality is questioned, as other foreigners equally affected by war and violation of human rights are excluded.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the EU economic position in 1995–2014 as well as the prospective growth potential in the global dimension up to 2025. The subject of the research is real and projected data including: GDP growth rate, main growth factors (labour, labour productivity and Total Factor Productivity), and their input to GDP growth, as well as data showing public debts and budget deficits. The analysis was conducted for the years 1995–2014 and 2015–2025. The authors' basic conclusions are: 1) the technological and economic gap between the European Union and the United States has been deepening; 2) the increasing polarisation of world economic powers and low GDP growth in the European Union limit the EU’s chances of maintaining the position as the second centre in the world economy; 3) improving the situation in public finances in the European Union as compared to the US is a factor which could raise GDP growth rates in European countries, however, there are countries whose future is in doubt due to the dramatically poor state of public finances, such as Greece, Italy, Portugal or Ireland; 4) economic growth forecasts indicate a deepening of the economic gap between the largest EU countries and the US.

In the European Monetary Union (EMU) development of unit-labour costs and inflation rates differs substantially among regions. This shows that the different wage determination models in the EMU did not converge to create a EMU-wide coherent wage bargaining system. The result are huge regional imbalances. Germany the biggest economy and the country with the lowest increase in unit-labour costs in EMU already realises big and increasing current account surpluses against other EMU countries. Spain, Italy or Portugal suffer from big current account deficits. The financial power of the European centre is too limited to prevent increasing regional problems. What is needed in Europe is a deeper institutional and political integration to combine functional monetary, fiscal, wage and regional policies.

AbstractThe main objective of this article is to describe the key elements of the making of immigration control policies in Portugal until 2007. First, the main policy initiatives and measures concerning the admission of foreigners are presented. Second, the mechanisms and difficulties surrounding the issue of immigration control are discussed, and a tension is identified between the structural demand for foreign labour and the measures taken for control. Third, the positions of the main political parties and of the most relevant stakeholders are highlighted. The evidence indicates that despite continued attempts to control immigration, the stated policy objectives are at odds with the outcome, characterised by endemic irregular migration. The factors hindering regulation are both internal and external, encompassing the economic, social, institutional and legal domains. Given the limits to control, policy-makers have sought to achieve a compromise by enacting frequent regularization programmes while seeking to improve admission and control. In this process, the main political parties have exhibited a significant degree of consensus, which may be partially accounted for by the convergence among the other stakeholders (employers, trade unions, Catholic organisations and immigrants' associations) and by the increasing, albeit contradictory, acceptance of immigration by public opinion.

ABSTRACT This study analyzes the changes from 1980s in the lifestyles of families of pluriactive and exclusively agricultural farmers in the northwest of Portugal caused by the income arising from the migration of at least one member of the family to another country in the European Union and the narrowing of the labor and consumer markets among the villages, towns and cities. The theoretical framework used to analyze the changes in the way of life of the pluriactive farmers was based on Giddens' theory of structuration, which denies both the absolute determinism of the structure on the subject and the freedom of unrestrained action of these same subjects. The study was carried out with the application of a survey to 78 farmers, divided into "pluriactive" and "exclusively agricultural" farmers. The findings pointed out to a greater aquisition of modes of urban life by pluriactive farmers compared with the exclusively agricultural farmers and showed a generational bias in this process of acculturation.

Decrease in the flow of students from Secondary to Higher Education in Portugal has been attributed by policy-makers to the attraction of the labour market for young people who should be continuing their studies. But several other reasons, which are generally missing in the official discourse, combine to create this decrease, including the role played by the State's social action policy for Higher Education, the shortness of families’ incomes, the level of schooling of the students’ parents, among others. Also psychological and sociological factors exist, which are often silenced, but which should also be considered to achieve a thorough understanding of the dynamics of flows from Secondary to Higher Education. These factors include the motivation, commitment and self-efficiency of students. This study starts with a macroeconomic and social approach, using comparative education methodology, to obtain a characterisation of the relative position of Portugal in the European Union (EU). This approach is described in this paper, where the main result is expected to be the conclusion that, among various factors, which include the inadequacy of public policies, the decisive factors for the decline in the flow of transition to Higher Education in Portugal are economic ones, namely access to income.

In the last three decades, nurses have gone on strike in many countries including Canada, the UK, the US, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Israel, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Portugal and South Africa. This article has a twofold purpose: first, to highlight oft-hidden patterns of nurse militancy through strike narratives; and second, to consider the contributions of nurse militancy to union renewal. It argues that the militancy of nurses speaks to many of the strategic threads in the union renewal project. It touches upon four themes: women’s militancy, rank-and-file militancy, coalition-building and community outreach, and professionals in the labour movement. In considering the militancy of women, this discussion genders the union renewal debate. At the same time, the article broadens the focus of the women and unions scholarship from issues of representation and leadership, constituency and cross-constituency organizing, and equity policy and bargaining to include workplace militancy. Au cours des trois dernières décennies, des infirmières sont parties en grève dans de nombreux pays, notamment au Canada, au Royaume-Uni, aux États-Unis, en Australie, au Japon, en Nouvelle-Zélande, en Israël, en Irlande, au Danemark, en Suède, en Pologne, au Portugal et en Afrique du Sud. Cet article poursuit un double objectif: tout d’abord, mettre en lumière le comportement souvent ignoré du militantisme des infirmières au travers du récit de grèves; ensuite, examiner la contribution de ce militantisme au renouveau syndical. Il montre que le militantisme des infirmières fait écho à bon nombre des axes stratégiques du projet de renouveau syndical. Il aborde quatre thèmes: le militantisme des femmes; le militantisme de la base; la construction de coalitions et le soutien de la communauté proche; le rôle des professionnels de la santé dans le mouvement des travailleurs. En examinant le militantisme des femmes, il intègre la dimension du genre dans le débat sur le renouveau syndical. Dans le même temps, l’article élargit à la problématique du militantisme sur le lieu de travail l’accent que la recherche sur les femmes et le syndicalisme met généralement sur les questions de représentation et de leadership, d’organisation catégorielle et intercatégorielle, ou de politique et de négociation sur l’égalité. In den letzten drei Jahrzehnten ist es in vielen Ländern zu Streiks von Krankenpflegerinnen gekommen, unter anderem in Kanada, dem Vereinigten Königreich, in den USA, in Australien, Japan, Neuseeland, Israel, Irland, Dänemark, Schweden, Polen, Portugal und in Südafrika. Dieser Beitrag verfolgt zweierlei Ziele: Einerseits soll er anhand von Streikberichten wenig sichtbare Strukturen des Aktivismus bei Krankenpflegerinnen aufdecken. Andererseits befasst er sich mit der Frage, welchen Beitrag dieser Aktivismus zur Erneuerung der Gewerkschaften leisten kann. Hier wird geltend gemacht, dass der Aktivismus von Krankenpflegerinnen viele strategische Schwerpunkte berührt, die Teil des Projekts zur Erneuerung der Gewerkschaften sind, insbesondere vier Themen: Aktivismus von Frauen, Aktivismus der Basis, Bündnisbildung und lokale Einbindung sowie Fachkräfte in der Arbeiterbewegung. Durch die Betrachtung des Aktivismus speziell von Frauen wird der Debatte über die Erneuerung der Gewerkschaften eine geschlechtspezifische Dimension verliehen. Gleich-zeitig wird der Fokus der wissenschaftlichen Literatur über Frauen und Gewerkschaften in Bereichen wie Vertretung und Führung, Organisation von Mitgliedern und gewerkschaftsferneren Personenkreisen sowie Politik und Verhandlungen zur Förderung der Gleichstellung um den Aspekt des Aktivismus am Arbeitsplatz erweitert.

The 2008 global Financial Crisis and the subsequent relative collapse of the financial and economic markets, including the government bond markets, in Greece, Ireland, and Portugal as well as economic weakness in other Western European economies have called into question the viability, going forward, of the Euro Currency. The so called PIIGS countries of Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain are thought to be financially vulnerable because of high levels of government spending and resulting deficit levels and inefficient labor markets and tax collection policies among other factors. Those five countries, along with the stronger economies of France and Germany, comprise 7 of the 17 countries in the Eurocurrency Union. Any weakness in the 5 country group can have a contagion effect on the rest and if the recent financial bailouts by the IMF and the European Central Bank in Greece, Portugal and Ireland are not effective then there is a real danger that one of more of the GIP (Greece, Ireland and Spain) countries may have to abandon or be forced to abandon the Euro. Because there is no provision for a country leaving the Eurocurrency Union this is uncharted territory and could lead to the weakening or even demise of the Euro depending upon circumstances. The fact that there are also significant financial linkages and related default risk connecting the five countries to the sounder economies of Germany and France increases the risks. This paper will evaluate the likelihood that the Eurocurrency will be substantially weakened or abandoned over the next 18 months. The evaluation will be highly dependent upon the forecasts for the 5 countries economic prospects, especially the very large economies of Italy and Spain as well as the likely responses of Germany and France to future default like events in the five countries. Metrics utilized will include the trend in economic indicators like long term government bond yields, deficit spending, tax collections, economic growth, and financial linkages and dependence among the seven countries. European Central Bank data and information from related sources like the IMF will be utilized.

Modular construction is the most advanced method of off-site construction available, generating fully-fitted modules with up to 80% of the work completed in a controlled environment prior to their transportation and installation on-site. The adoption of modular construction (AMC) has increased in several countries worldwide. However, in smaller construction markets, the adoption rates remain low, and the industry is still heavily reliant on traditional labor-intensive methods. The main research question for this study is: What are the main barriers (including the root barriers) to the adoption of modular construction in Portugal? The methodology used was a mixed methods research (MMR) approach, trying to understand if there are any specificities in the Portuguese (European Union) markets compared with the more well-documented North American and Asian markets. First, a literature review followed by a survey were used to prioritize a list of 15 critical barriers to the AMC. The results and interrelations between the barriers were analyzed through an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approach and an impact matrix cross-reference multiplication applied to a classification (MICMAC) analysis. The combined analyses show that the main barriers are low levels of R&D, a lack of accredited organizations to certify the quality of the manufactured components and the industry’s unwillingness to innovate.

In response to the Eurozone crisis, austerity and restructuring has been imposed on the European Union’s peripheral member states in order to receive financial bailout loans. In addition to cuts in funding for essential public services, cuts in public sector employment and the further liberalisation of labour markets, this has also included pressure towards the privatisation of state assets. Yet, workers have not simply accepted these restructuring pressures; rather, they have organised and fought back against austerity and enforced privatisation. Based on a historical-materialist perspective and following a strategy of incorporated comparison, in this article, we will comparatively assess the struggles against enforced water privatisation in Greece and Portugal set against the background of the structuring conditions surrounding the Eurozone crisis.

AbstractThis paper investigates the relationship between fiscal and external deficits in five European Union countries (Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) using quarterly data for the period 1980:1–2020:1. Literature on the relationship between these series used linear techniques, but generally reported inconclusive results. Nonlinearity has been overlooked even though fiscal policy is likely to exhibit nonlinearity due to its sensitivity to political decisions. To capture this nonlinearity behaviour, nonlinear causality techniques are applied here in addition to the usual linear techniques used in the extant literature. The results show that there is evidence of unidirectional nonlinear causality from trade balances to government deficits in Greece and Italy, and a nonlinear unidirectional causality from government deficits to trade balance in Portugal. The results also indicate evidence of a nonlinear bi-directional causality between the trade and government balances in Ireland and Spain. The policy implication of these results is that governments of these countries need to address fiscal deficits to manage their trade balances. Policies that will improve the countries’ revenue base, such as tax and labour market reforms as well as capital market reforms to engender productivity and increase competitiveness, would be beneficial.

Purpose – This paper aims to evaluate internships in terms of governance structures. Internships are being promoted as a European Union policy lever to address high youth unemployment. However, concerns exist that internships often have few developmental opportunities and poor employment outcomes, something this conceptual paper examines. Design/methodology/approach – The authors develop a conceptual framework for distinguishing between different types of internships based on “dimensions of governance” (contract, agreed duration and partnership). A distinction is made between “open market”, “educational” and “active labour market policy” internships, drawing on examples and evidence from Spain and Portugal. Findings – The authors argue that “governed” internships, linked to educational programmes or genuine active labour market policies, are much more likely to have beneficial outcomes than “open market internships”. This is because they provide the positive governance conditions relating to contract, duration and partnership arrangements under which employers, interns and third parties understand how they can benefit from the internship and what their responsibilities are. Research limitations/implications – The strength of the paper lies in outlining an analytical framework for future research. The evidence presented from Spain and Portugal provides support for the conceptual framework; future comparative internship research should further test the propositions made across a range of countries and contexts. Social implications – By increasing understanding of internship governance, employers, policymakers and educationalists will be in a better position to design successful internships. Originality/value – The paper broadens the focus beyond educational internships alone and proposes a conceptual framework for future research.

This article addresses the problem of the main factors driving sectoral unemployment in the Mediterranean countries most affected by this phenomenon. The choice of the four countries (Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal) relies on the fact that they are dealing with the highest unemployment rates in the European Union and a certain typology of the economic structure. The originality of our research is offered by its direction, less tackled until now, namely the focus on the particularities of the economic sectors, trying to capture differences between them. The importance and the impact of the results are supported by the methods used to produce them, indicators and econometric models that are on trend and bring extra information to available studies. Descriptive statistics and mismatch indexes are used to outline the economic and labour market structure, while the econometric models built on panel data capture the impact of factors such as GVA growth, specialization and labour market mismatches on the unemployment rate at six economic sectors level. Our paper makes three contributions to the literature. First, we have demonstrated that agriculture is the sector of activity less sensitive to output fluctuations in terms of unemployment and can become a buffer for the jobless in times of recessions. Second, we have proved that industry, as a whole, is highly responsive to economic developments and bad specialization could worsen unemployment situation in this sector. Third, we showed that educational mismatches have a significant impact on unemployment in those sectors of activity that employ low educated workforce.

The global financial crisis which began in 2007-2008 had a negative effect on the economy of the European Union, mainly in selected countries of the euro area: Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. These peripheral euro zone countries come out of recession and the financial crisis largely due to the great financial support of the international institutions. Hundreds of billions of euro were spent to save these economies. At the same time, however, these countries were characterized by the lowest level of fiscal policy - measured by share of taxes in GDP - among the countries of the euro area. In this paper I will try to answer the following questions:1. What were the causes of the downturn in those countries, and what restructuring actions were taken;2. What changes were introduced in the tax system under the policy to repair public finances;3 .How have these changes affected the level and the structure of budget revenues from taxes, and to what extent has the crisis affected the change in the tax burden on consumption, labour, and capital.

The objective of the paper is to estimate efficiency and eco-efficiency of agriculture in 24 EU Member States from 2006 to 2015. In the study, a panel of yearly aggregated data [Eurostat 2018] of the total value of agricultural goods output (AGO), labour (AWU), utilised agricultural area (UAA), fertilisers N, P, K (NPK) and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of agriculture of selected EU Member States were used. The directional distance functions (DDF) approach both with and without undesirable output (GHG emission) were employed. Malmquist-Luenberger indices were applied to measure productivity changes and their decomposition to identify sources of these changes. GHG emission reduction per agricultural output in all EU MS was observed. Significant growth of GHG per UAA occurred especially in the OMS: The Netherlands, Austria, Germany, France, while an increase of GHG per UAA was less pronounced in Bulgaria, Latvia, Hungary (NMS). The highest efficiency and eco-efficiency in agricultural production over 2006-2015 was reached by the Netherlands and Denmark. The most inefficient and eco-inefficient agriculture was noted in the agriculture of Ireland and Finland (OMS). The highest inefficiency among NMS was detected in the agriculture of Lithuania, Poland and Latvia, while the most eco-inefficient were Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Improvement of productivity and eco-productivity due to technological improvement occurred in all 24 EU MS. Agricultural technical eco-efficiency fell in Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Portugal and Hungary.

The pattern of health risk perception among Portuguese mineworkers changed during the twentieth century, as did forms of state intervention and risk management. Up to the mid-20th century, mining accidents, risks and the need for sickness assistance promoted different healthcare models. Mining companies offered medical and pharmaceutical assistance, and, during the First Republic, the state introduced compulsory social insurance and other labour legislation. The health assistance offered by trade unions was integrated into the general health system during New State (1934–74). From the 1950s on, the legal struggle for recognition of silicosis as a debilitating occupational disease made mine owners accountable. This paper traces this historical experience, the significant path leading to the institutionalization of occupational medicine, health systems and social support in Portugal. El patrón de percepción del riesgo para la salud entre los mineros portugueses cambió durante el siglo XX, al igual que las formas de intervención estatal y gestión del riesgo. Hasta mediados del siglo XX, los accidentes mineros, los riesgos y la necesidad de asistencia por enfermedad impulsaron diferentes modelos de salud. Las empresas mineras ofrecieron asistencia médica y farmacéutica y, durante la Primera República, el estado introdujo el Seguro Social Obligatorio y otras leyes laborales. La asistencia sanitaria ofrecida por los sindicatos se integró en el sistema general de salud durante el Estado Novo (1934-1974). De la década de 1950, la lucha legal por el reconocimiento de la silicosis como una enfermedad ocupacional debilitante hizo que los propietarios de las minas fueran responsables. Este artículo traza esta experiencia histórica, el camino significativo que conduce a la institucionalización de la medicina del trabajo, los sistemas de salud y el apoyo social en Portugal.

La crisis de la COVID-19 se ha caracterizado por una mayor fragilidad del mercado laboral, especialmente en los países del sur de Europa. Sin embargo, los datos oficiales no reflejan con exactitud las transformaciones reales de sus mercados de trabajo. En este contexto, este trabajo compara el comportamiento del mercado laboral de los colectivos vulnerables de población (jóvenes, mujeres e inmigrantes) en tres países del sur de Europa con un análisis cruzado de datos a lo largo del tiempo. Para ello, hemos desarrollado un indicador alternativo de paro oculto que recupera e incluye a los desempleados de las categorías de subempleo involuntario e inactividad. Nuestros análisis incluyen datos de España, Portugal e Italia, y toman como base la encuesta European Union-Labour Force Survey (EU-LFS). Nuestros resultados muestran que el impacto del desempleo en el sur de Europa se mide mejor cuando se utiliza un indicador ampliado, especialmente cuando se analizan los casos de colectivos vulnerables. Esta herramienta muestra un gran potencial analítico para desvelar el desempleo oculto en el contexto de la pandemia COVID-19.

In some countries in Europe the economic crisis starting in 2008 was marked not only by a rise in unemployment, but also by increases in individuals in part-time and temporary working, so emphasising the need to examine employment composition as well as non-employment. The promotion of non-standard forms of employment – such as part-time and temporary working – has been part of Europe’s employment agenda, but directives have also focused on raising the quality of such work. Using European Union Labour Force Survey data, an indicator of involuntary non-standard (part-time and temporary) employment (INE) is constructed, depicting a negative working condition. Descriptive analyses show important differences between countries in the incidence of INE, which is highest in Spain, Portugal and Poland, and also in the composition of INE. By contrast, INE tends to be lower in countries with Anglo-Saxon and Nordic welfare state models. Econometric analyses reveal that young workers, older workers, women, non-nationals, those with low education and those who were unemployed a year ago are at greatest risk of INE.

The recent recession having emerged in 2007 has been the worst economic downturn since the time of Great Depression of 1929 in USA and spread across the European continent. In many European countries this led to severe sovereign debt crisis beginning in 2010 and was followed by implementation of austerity measures with significant impact on public, social and employment sector. Those tough austerity measures resulted in structural reforms of welfare and labor market especially in Southern EU countries like Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy representing the most prominent examples. These policies were imposed to a large extend through the so called “Troika” which was an interaction between internal EU and external Organizations, like the European Union, the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund respectively.Citizens realize that their national economic institutions are no longer responsible for the decision making on major social and economic policies, on economic and welfare policies, on privatization and sale of public assets. Consequently, citizens tend to question if this constrained democracy deserves further support. This is enhanced by the fact that National Parliaments no longer develop policies but rather align with policies dictated by the above stated Institutions and are forced to accept such deals without asking the opinion of citizens. Nevertheless the EU intends to promote civil society participation in decision making and program policies applied. This contradiction needs to be analyzed in order to determine if there is a democratic deficit in EU member states.

The optimum currency area (OCA) theory evaluates the currency area as optimum at a time when the participating countries are not at risk of macroeconomic instability due to the existence of a common currency. The OCA index is a tool used to comprehensively assess the costs and benefits of a candidate for joining a monetary union. It is constructed as a bilateral index assessing the appropriateness of introducing the single currency in two countries. The article presents the OCA index quantified for the Czech Republic in relation to Germany, which is considered to be the core of the European Monetary Union. Since the OCA index needs to be interpreted in a temporal or spatial comparison, the calculation of the OCA index was also performed for other countries of the Visegrad Group (V4) and furthermore for Austria and Portugal, using data from the period of 2007–2019. The results of the OCA index show a high degree of variability in the Czech Republic in the observed period. While in the first half of the period under review, the Czech Republic achieved the best results within the assessed economies and the Czech Republic's level of preparedness for the common currency with Germany was higher than in the case of Austria, it fell sharply after 2012. The reason can be seen, among other things, in the higher growth rate of the Czech economy than in the euro area. Although the OCA index is an indicator assessing the preparedness of an economy to join a monetary union, it cannot be the only indicator. Other important criteria include, for example, labour mobility, price and wage flexibility, fiscal integration and more. Although the Czech Republic is approaching the euro area average in all key indicators, the gap from it remains significant for most indicators and thus continues to be a factor against the adoption of the euro in the coming years.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is projected high-standard and inclusive free trade agreement which is being conversed between the United States (US) and European Union (EU). Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership is a chain of trade negotiations operating between EU and US. The TTIP is mainly about decreasing the regulatory obstacles to trade to open up a way for bigger businesses such as environmental legislation, food safety, sovereign powers of the individual nations and also banking regulations. The US and EU are two of the most integrated countries when it comes to economy globally. It is as a result of their trade in services, investments and the high commercial presence in each other's financial prudence. These two regions support each other when it comes to the economy, and that's why they are good trading partners in products and services. The EU and U.S trade and investment partnership which is sometimes referred to as transatlantic economy has a significant global relationship and creates a mutually beneficial understanding between the two states (Hoekman and Kostecki, 2009). The TTIP is one of the largest trade and investment partnership in the world and also the most significant because of its absolute size. It has many for example the European Union has 28 member states which include: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Denmark, Finland. Greece, Ireland, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Lithuania, Romania, Spain, Latvia, Sweden, Portugal and United Kingdom are also part of the partnership. The initial negotiations on TTIP which was to become the first largest bilateral free trade and investment partnership agreement were earlier supported by a paramount and independent study of the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). The study by CEPR was called Reduction of the Transatlantic Barriers to Trade and investment. The negotiations were mainly to provide independent advice to the two negotiators based on the additional research. Despite, TTIP being one of the largest trade and investment partnership, it has created both negative and positive impacts on the two states. There are benefits t being enjoyed by the member states such as job creation and home growth. The EU depends on the US exports; they can get investments from the US and also import the goods and services they require (Khanna, Palepu, and Sinha, 2005). Other positive impacts of the TTIP includes; upholding and promoting human rights, governing in a transparent manner that can hold to account individuals in authority and also has markets that can be open to free and reasonable competition and is well-regulated market areas. TTIP also protects the people and the planet through their international rules. For example, the rules look at everyone's health, their condition at workplaces, the endangered species around them and the entire environment. There are also challenges that have come out from TTIP in the field of politics and economics, poor labor standards, workers' rights and security of their workplaces, democracy, and state authority. Foreign shareholder protection, public health and the environment as a whole, health care, consumer safety and food security, climate change and environment protection, banking regulation and privacy and many others. Some competitors challenge the TTIP on slowness in services than in goods leading to difficulty in opening markets in service areas.

Research and development are important sources of economic growth and social welfare and play a key role in creating new knowledge, products and technological processes. In our paper we focused on the analysis and evaluation of research and innovation potential in the European Union countries in 2010 and 2015 using Data Envelopment Analysis. For the evaluation, seven indicators were selected, as starting point for the evaluation of research activities and the measurement of the innovation performance and of competitiveness of the individual countries. Input capital indicators were – R&D expenditure in the higher education sector and in the business enterprise sector as % of GDP. Input human labour indicators were total researchers (FTE), human resources in science and technology (HRST) as % of active population and employment in total service intensive sectors as % of total employment. Output indicators were the number of scientific publications and high‑tech export as % of total export. On basis of DEA super‑efficiency analyses results we can make following conclusions. The best group of five countries is characterized by efficient status in both analysed periods 2010 and 2015 (Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus, Croatia and United Kingdom). The second group contains two countries Germany and Italy. This countries improved status from inefficient in 2010 to efficient in 2015. In the third group are five countries that worsened their status from efficient in 2010 to inefficient one in 2015: Portugal, Malta, Poland, Luxembourg and Netherlands. In last fourth group are all other EU28 countries that were inefficient in both analysed periods 2010 and 2015. In group of V4 countries situation is not optimistic. Poland worsened its status from efficient in 2010 to inefficient one in 2015 and three remaining countries – Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia stagnated in inefficient status in both periods. On the opposite there was not significant difference in super‑efficiencies in 2010 and in 2015 and in their differences between capitalist and post‑socialist EU28 countries.

The analysis of the economic efficiency of agriculture has been the subject of numerous studies. An economically efficient agricultural sector is not always environmentally efficient. Agriculture is a large emitter of greenhouse gases. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that food production and agriculture are responsible for 21–37% of total global CO2 emissions. Due to the comprehensive assessment of the agricultural efficiency, it is worthwhile to apply to its measurement an integrated approach based on economic, energy and environmental aspects. These aspects were the main reasons for undertaking this research. The purpose of the study was to determine the economic, energy and environmental efficiency of agriculture in the EU Member States in 2019. The environmental analyses relate to the period 1990–2019. A total of 26 member states of the European Union (excluding Malta and Luxembourg) were selected for research. The sources of materials were Eurostat and the European Environmental Agency. This study was based on the Data Envelopment Analysis method, and used the DEA model focused on minimizing inputs. The research also adopts energy productivity and greenhouse gas emission efficiency indicators. The DEA model features the following variables: one effect (value of agricultural production) and four inputs (land, labour, use of fertilizers and use of energy). It was found that seven out of the 26 studied EU countries have efficient agriculture. The efficient agriculture group included The Netherlands, Denmark, Greece, Cyprus, the United Kingdom, Italy and Ireland. Based on the DEA method, benchmarks have been defined for countries with inefficient agriculture. On the basis of these benchmarks for inefficient agricultural sectors, it was possible to determine how they could improve efficiency to achieve the same results with fewer inputs. This issue is particularly important in the context of sustainable agricultural development. In the next stage of the research, the analysis of economic and energy efficiency was combined with the analysis of GHG emission efficiency in agriculture. Four groups of countries have been distinguished: eco-efficiency leaders, eco-efficiency followers, environmental slackers, eco-efficiency laggards. The leaders of the classification were The Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Portugal.

We live in a fast-changing world, where breakthrough technological advances have not just disrupted industries but also changed the way we live, work and learn to a degree humankind has never experienced before. As the modern workplace becomes ever more global and interconnected, proficiency in foreign languages (FL) assumes a fundamental role in international business relations. Simultaneously, being able to navigate culturally diverse environments, i.e., understanding how international stakeholders think, work, and express themselves through their attitudes and behaviours is of paramount importance as well. These challenges also raise pressing questions: How can we prepare learners for a global world in constant evaluation? How can we help them develop 21st-century skills as important as critical thinking, creativity, communication, adaptability, digital literacy and cross-cultural understanding? In May 2018, the Council of the European Union (CEU) adopted a Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, a framework that attempts to establish a common understanding of competences needed in the present moment and the future, by emphasising the inter-relatedness of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. An important reference tool for education and training stakeholders, this recommendation identifies the following key competences: 1) Literacy competence; 2) Multilingual competence; 3) Mathematical competence and competence in science, technology and engineering; 4) Digital competence; 5) Personal, social and learning to learn competence; 6) Civic competence; 7) Entrepreneurship competence; and 8) Cultural awareness and expression competence. The EU Member States are, thus, encouraged to prepare their citizens for changing labour markets and active citizenship in more diverse, mobile, digital, and global societies, and to develop learning at all stages of life. While teacher-guided approaches will remain an important pedagogical practice, the main approach to teaching key competences is through providing learning environments that facilitate active learning, i.e., student-centred settings where open-ended problems and challenges can be solved through debate, experimentation, exploration, and creativity. This paper aims to narrate a non-formal activity carried out within a Business English Communication course taught at the Higher School of Technology and Management of the University of Aveiro (Portugal), in collaboration with an international group of volunteers from the European Solidarity Corps. This initiative sought to contribute to the development of some of the key competences for lifelong learning, especially multilingual skills and cultural sensitivity and expression, but also digital skills and personal and social skills of the participants.

Traditional actors such as trade unions are inevitably challenged by digital technologies, not only from the perspective of labor relations, but also in relation to outreach and communications strategies. In fact, as online and offline realities become increasingly intertwined, the presence of organized labor institutions within the Internet’s current networked environment is unavoidable. This article debates digital trade unionism as a strategy for trade union renewal, particularly the implications of using social media platforms to connect and interact with a broader audience beyond the labor movement. Through a comprehensive comparative analysis of the Facebook pages of six trade union confederations from Brazil, Canada, Portugal, and the UK, we find that despite the possibilities for horizontal dialogue enabled by the new digital communication and information technologies, trade union confederations maintain an outdated ‘one-way’ model of communication, hindering opportunities to reach and engage with both union and non-union actors.

The euro has been sliding against the US dollar for weeks. Concerns about the public finances of eurozone countries Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain, the so-called «PIGS,» have emerged in financial markets. Greece is facing the severest crisis, with its 10-year bond yield approaching 7%. The Greek government estimates its budget deficit at 12.7% of GDP in 2009. Gross government debts amount to 113% of its GDP. If the interest rate Greece has to pay for its debts keeps rising, the country may have to default on its obligations. In an attempt to recoup confidence in the future of the country, the Greek government has announced a freeze on public salaries, a reduction in the number of public servants, and an increase in taxes on gas, tobacco, alcohol, and big real-estate properties. This should help to reduce the deficit to 8% in 2010. However, the markets do not trust this solution. While the increase in taxes will cause new problems for the Greeks, other problems remain unaddressed: The huge public sector has not been substantially reduced. Wage rates remain uncompetitive as a result of strong labor unions. Moreover, it is not clear if the government can stick to these small spending cuts, as there will be a general strike in February. In December 2008, Greece experienced riots against comparatively minor political reforms. As the majority of the population seems to be against spending cuts, the government may not be able to prevent the bankruptcy of the country. For years, the Greek government has demonstrated rather thriftless spending behavior. This was exacerbated when Greece started to pay lower interest rates on government bonds by virtue of having entered the European Economic and Monetary Union. Greece’s interest rates were subsidized due to an implicit guarantee from the strong members of the eurozone, who were expected to support weaker members in times of trouble. During the first years of the euro, interest rates on Greek bonds were thus reduced; they approached German bond yields. Greece spent wildly but paid interest rates like a much more conservative country. Meanwhile, the Greek economy and voting public adapted to government spending subsidized by low interest rates.

The insider-outsider politics approach conjectures that moderate unions and centre-left parties safeguard the interests of insiders and neglect outsiders in labour market reforms. This article challenges this hypothesis. By comparing the positions taken by centre-left parties and moderate union confederations during labour market reforms in Portugal and Spain (1975–2019), it shows that while they may indeed protect insiders, they sometimes do the opposite. To explain this, the article argues that more attention must be paid to the configuration of left parties and confederations. In Portugal, where communist and radical left parties were strong, the centre-left was afraid of losing outsiders’ electoral support, and thus it did not follow a pro-insider strategy. This was reinforced by the fact that the centre-left had to face the opposition of a strong class-oriented confederation that was not willing to commit to two-tier reforms. This was not what happened in Spain. The centre-left, supported by a union confederation, undertook a two-tier reform in 1984 because there was a different configuration of left parties and confederations. Notwithstanding, this was not a stable equilibrium because this confederation changed its position over time when it realized the negative consequences of these reforms. Henceforth, their strategy became more pro-outsider.

Ireland, Portugal and Slovenia – three states with different historical legacies and institutional frameworks – promoted labour market flexibility and active labour market policies before and during the 2008 crisis. These policies were postulated as basic poli-cies on the EU level. However, a significant change came with the COVID-19 crisis when governments in all three states implemented measures much more resembling neo-Keynesian policies. In the article, we show that the crucial mechanisms for the various labour market poli-cy choices made in these three countries were due to the two crises being of distinct types, the (non)coincidence of interests of a range of actors and classes, and the dif-ferent policy frameworks promoted by the EU. Keywords: crises, flexibility, labour market, European union, semi-periphery, COVID-19

<p>Guy Standing’s new book, A Precariat Charter, does not allow us to forget that we live under the shadow of the “precariat” – a group of people who are deprived of any work-related guarantees, subjected to uncertain income, and without a collective identity that is rooted in a labour world. Among the many merits of his most recent book, Standing reports the damaging effects suffered by a substantial section of the European trade union movement. At the root of this decline is labour’s submission to a socially irresponsible and environmentally unsustainable model of development. First, I will examine the book from a Southern perspective. The data and examples that Standing provide pertain largely to changing working-class relations in advanced capitalist countries. In contrast, I will focus my attention on the metamorphosis of the working class in the Global South – particularly Brazil – during the post-Fordist era in order to raise questions about the class character of the precariat.</p>

Abstract This article describes and explains labour market reforms in Portugal during the sovereign debt crisis from 2011 to 2014. Policy outputs were not homogenous, but differentiated between a first phase where recalibration co-existed alongside hard liberalising measures and a second phase, from late 2012, where recalibration was dropped and liberalisation further deregulated employment protection and security and eroded collective bargaining. This variation is explained by the changing coalitional politics and blame allocation underpinning policymaking under conditionality. Initial reforms resulted from a broad informal political coalition spanning the governing centre-right parties, the main opposition party, a trade union and employer confederations; its breakdown in late 2012 led to the executive’s increasing centralisation, the shut down of social concertation, and more radical policy outputs. The article shows that cooperation between government and opposition and government and social partners is possible even under external conditionality, how coalition politics affects the nature and direction of reforms, and highlights how political dynamics of blame allocation drive the process of coalition building and breakdown.

Fifty years ago, a movement in Paris unleashed a profound change in customs and left deep marks on society, despite its restraint by elections, changes in the university and factories. The ‘events’ of May 1968, because of their breadth, their role in young people and foreigners, the new forms of action and participation that gave rise to them, and certain qualitatively new aspects of the claims presented, not only revealed the political power of the labor movement (paralyzing power and blocking institutions), but they also constituted a “subversive” experience of incalculable theoretical and practical significance in the process of developing social struggles both in France and in other European countries. It also inaugurated a new stage which has come to mean a real “historical change”: “trade union power” gave way to the “workers’ power” that spread throughout Europe - France, Italy, Germany and Sweden itself. The echoes of May 1968 arrived in Portugal immediately, but it is mainly in April 1969 that in Coimbra there is a university crisis that can not fail to be referenced. These events also provoked changes in the cinema that occupied the rooms with dozens of films made in the years that followed and to this day the most recent film that resumes this movement is the film by João Moreira Salles No intenso agora (2017). In Portugal so far no film has plunged deeply into these events. Because? Why is it that after 50 years cinema resumes this theme? Why did Portuguese cinema forget the Coimbra crisis of 1969?

Growing imbalances in the balance of payments of the euro countries are usually attributed to the divergence in competitiveness related to unequal increases of wages or unit wage costs in member states. However, an empirical analysis of international trade and portfolio investment data shows that the growing current account deficits in countries like Greece, Spain, and Portugal up to the recent crisis were rather due to growing capital exports from countries like Germany and France. Moreover, economic divergences are not so much the result of direct competition between the countries of the eurozone but rather due to their unequal integration into the changing international division of labour. While German producers profited a lot from the transformation in regions like Eastern Europe and China, producers in Southern Europe came under increasing pressure by new competitors in other low-wage areas. Even if to a different extent, the relative importance of the eurozone as a market and an area of investment has declined for all the member states analyzed here. The growing economic and political contradictions in the eurozone are leading to different scenarios, depending on the development of the balance of forces: There could be a deepening of the integration of the eurozone member countries, but also the exit of single countries from the eurozone. Depending on the political balance of forces, ruptures with the current regime of the monetary union and with the European treaties could have very different meanings for the social classes.

The Positive Energy District (PED) concept has been pointed out as key for cities' energy system transformation toward carbon neutrality. The PED may be defined as an energy-efficient and flexible urban area with net-zero energy import and greenhouse gas emissions, aiming toward annual local surplus of renewable energy. Most of the studies and practical experiences about PEDs are based on newly built districts, where the planning and integration of innovative solutions are less complex and more cost-effective. However, to achieve Europe Union's 2050 carbon-neutral ambition, we argue that the transformation of the settled districts is essential, including historic districts, which present common challenges across European cities, such as degraded dwellings, low-income families, and gentrification processes due to massive tourism flows. This paper aims to discuss how the PED model can be an opportunity for historic districts to reduce their emissions and mitigate energy poverty. The historic district of Alfama, in the city of Lisbon (Portugal), is used as a case study to show the potential of energy renovation measures and solar PV production in households, cornerstones of a PED. The annual energy needs potential reduction due to building retrofit is 84 and 19% for space heating and cooling, respectively, while the integration of building-integrated PV technologies in rooftops and windows potentially generates up to 60 GWh/year. At the district scale, these two components of the PED concept could require an investment of 60M€ to 81M€ depending on the PV technologies in the rooftops, a sensitive aspect in historical districts. Unlike other mechanisms to tackle energy poverty, like the social tariffs, the adoption of structural measures like building energy efficiency retrofit and renewable energy integration will contribute to solve the energy poverty problem, which is significant in Alfama, in both the winter and summer. The highlighted investments require an innovative financial scheme to support not only buildings' owners but also tenants, as these are among the most vulnerable to energy poverty. However, the social benefits of that investment, on the health system, air quality, climate resilience, labor productivity, and social integration, would be invaluable.

The article covers history and practice of the development of economic sanctions as a mechanism of influence on countries that do not comply with the norms of international law. The objectives of the sanctions may include preventing wars, promoting freedom and democracy, combating environmental pollution, protecting human and labor rights, ensuring non-proliferation of weapons, releasing captured citizens, and countering land grab. Everything connected with sanctions (e.g. size, form, etc.) is determined by their acceptability by the community, and they are influenced by technology and the existing relations of power between social groups within countries. However, unlike well-defined rules concerning declared war and blockade of wartime, international law doesn’t establish any legal or formal restrictions on coercive measures with the exception of war. The first written economic sanctions were imposed in 432 BC by the Athens Maritime Union on the city of Megara. Sanctions were aimed at stopping the Megara’s practice of accepting runaway Athenian slaves and plowing sacred border territories. Sanctions were ineffective, due to which the Peloponnesian War began. Athens suffered a crushing defeat, and the Athenian union was destroyed. In the 19th century sanctions generally took the form of sea blockades. The question of the international legitimacy of sea blockades did not arise until the formation of the League of Nations in the 20th century. Article 16 of the Charter of the League of Nations allowed collective economic and military action against a state that turned to war in disregard of the League Agreement, which required states to settle disputes peacefully. In the Charter of the United Nations, the right to apply sanctions is enshrined in Articles 2 (4), 39, 41, 42, 43 and 46 of the Charter of this organization and in the “Unification for Peace resolution” 1950. In the period between 1946 and 1990 the UN imposed sanctions on North Korea, South Africa, Portugal, Rhodesia and Iraq. In the subsequent period, the UN began to apply sanctions more actively, especially against African states. Effectiveness of the implemented economic sanctions in most cases was dubious, since the desired results were not achieved or at least deviated from the initial purpose. After the massacre in Sharpeville, where civilians who protested against the apartheid became victims of inhuman police crimes, the problem of South African racist politics became a hot topic on the world agenda. Some countries led by India in the following years began to actively raise this issue with the UN Security Council. Western countries did their best to prevent the use of sanctions against South Africa, because of the country’s important role for NATO in advancing its strategic goals. After the Soweto Uprising, on November 4, 1977, when the photographs of young people killed by the police appeared in major newspapers worldwide, the UN Security Council finally adopted mandatory sanction measures. Nevertheless, governments of some of the Western powers sought to maintain their traditional tolerance for the apartheid regime, counting on South Africa to counter the Soviet-Cuban intervention in the civil wars of Angola and Mozambique. Since 1977 till 1994 The UN Security Council had repeatedly demanded that all states comply with the sanctions restrictions, which throughout this time gradually tightened and comprehensively affected all spheres of life of the South African society.

Ingredients: Men, Women, Modern Kitchens, and the Gender Culture For working couples, the end of the day brings to the middle-class family with children the need to prepare the evening meal. Beyond an instrumental task to be performed, the kitchen space is hereafter the locus where the gender culture becomes visible. Who cooks? How does he/she cook? How good does he/she cook? In answering these questions, two main variables of context have to be clearly addressed. Firstly, contemporary gender culture promotes both men and women as “equal potential cookers.” Claims for gender equality are pervasive in the kitchen space, traditionally occupied by women, whose socialisation to be a “perfect housewife” served as a guarantee that they would “naturally” be good cooks, as well as good wives and mothers (Parsons and Bales). Currently, however, because individuals are now less defined by the traditional gender roles (Beck, Giddens, and Lash), one can expect either the man or the woman, or both, to prepare meals. From “sacrifice to gift” (Kaufmann), the possibilities are as numerous as the individuals who carry with them different and multiple socialisation processes that they differently mobilise in distinctive settings (Lahire). Secondly, the space of the kitchen has never been so technologically advanced as today. Contrary to images of a tiring, time-consuming, and demanding family workspace, the contemporary kitchens are equipped with such machinery assuring for efficiency, time domain, and aesthetic appeal (Daly, Gillis, Kaufmann, and Silva). Moreover, a paraphernalia of highly sophisticated equipment promises to help even the most awkward to be a successful and impressive chef. Nonetheless, the kitchens’ space has not ceased to be a profound and complex arena of family life, intimacy, and sociability (Southerton). Additionally, tradition, cultural heritage, knowledge, expertise, tenderness, pleasure, love, passion, and even sex: those are some of the “ingredients” with which media and popular culture socially construct the kitchen’s space (see for instance, the films Woman on Top, and Eat Pray Love, and television series Hell’s Kitchen featuring chef Gordon Ramsay). In this paper, I analyse the exploitation of the cookbook as an instrument used by some women aiming to encourage a greater participation rate among men in the cooking task. To study this topic was not an initial aim of research. Instead, it has emerged in the broader context of a previous sociological research devoted to the study of family practices (Morgan, Family Connections and Rethinking Family Practices), specifically family rituals within Portuguese middle-class families (Costa). Data was collected through episodic interviews (Flick) applied to both men and women with at least one child between the age of 3 and 14 years old. In this major study, a theoretical sample (Glaser and Strauss) of 30 individuals (with a mean age of 38 years old) were asked to describe in detail their “normal” and “special” moments or days. Through a subsequent content analysis (Bardin) carried out with the qualitative software NVivo (developed by QSR ©International), the cooking task has emerged from the data as a meaningful category. Findings presented and discussed hereafter are based upon the interviewees’s accounts that focus on a very circumscribed phase of their daily life, namely when they arrive home at the end of the day and need to prepare a “good,” “quick” meal. Particularly, in the case of the men’s accounts, the mention to the ways women urge men to participate (more) in the cooking tasks become prominent when talking about the use of the Bimby and it’s correlated recipe book. The Bimby (Thermomix) is a multi-function food processor intended for domestic use, commercialized by German company Vorwerk since the 1970s, yet only more recently having gained wide popularity in Portugal (Truninger). In short, this text focuses on the cookbook and related “mundane practices” (Martens) within the context of the appropriation of high-tech equipment in the kitchen to discuss the power of the socialisation of gender. Our argument is that cookbooks can be a way to dissipate the old difficulties that men, particularly, face in the kitchen; and at the same time, their use (and misuse) reinforces the persistence of some gaps due to previous and unequal socialisation regarding cookery as a skill. Preparation: Places, Spaces, Tasks, and (Traditional) Social Roles When arriving home early in the evening, both men and women usually occupy different spaces and perform different tasks, thus assuming distinctive social roles (Costa). Notwithstanding some recent changes causing a greater participation of men in domestic life (Wall, Aboim, and Cunha), Portuguese families still experience a very unequal household division of labour. At the same time that Portuguese women participate strongly in the paid work economy, especially on a full-time basis, they also undertake the majority of the household chores—both in number and time spent in doing so—such as the regular tasks of cooking, washing, and cleaning (Aboim, Wall and Amâncio). In most cases analysed in this study, there also remains a clear division of tasks concerning the preparation of the daily evening meal. Whereas the woman frequently prepares the evening meal, the man more often performs complimentary tasks such as setting the table for dinner and, afterwards, putting the dishes in the dishwasher and removing them once washed. Underlying this, couples seem to have negotiated an “agreement of exchange,” where women are responsible for a particular task, while men preferably “assume” or “choose another one.” Hence, insofar as women assume the task of cooking on a regularly basis, the participation of men in the preparation of meals is far more episodic (for example, at the weekend, for parties, at Christmas time or on some other special day or occasion). This can explain why men more often refer to the exact content of the daily meals they prepare as relatively “simple” and “fast”—dishes such as “grilled,” “tidbits,” “fries,” or precooked food for microwave are common. The “unpreparedness” or “lack of practice” of men and, consequently, the “greater experience” and/or “preparation” of their wives/partners are, coincidentally, evoked to justify why men do not participate more in the meal preparation. Both men and women refer either to the “tradition” or to a certain “naturalisation” of the women’s skills as the main arguments for the way they share tasks around the evening meal. Actually, most of the men who were interviewed admitted not being “ready” or “prepared” to perform specific tasks once married or living with a partner. The “blame” seems to be in the fact that they were not socialised to clean, wash, or cook when unmarried. When living with their parents, they were responsible for only minor tasks like tidying up their rooms, making their beds, or taking out the garbage. At other times, they may have “aided” their parents, yet only when “asked to do so.” In fact, when compared to women, these men were not domestically socialised as children or teenagers. Let us also remember that many came directly from their origin families into a procreation family. Thus, when they entered into a marital status, the task of cooking passed “automatically and intuitively” from their mothers into the hands of their wives/partners. Only with the (rare) deliberate refusal of the woman to cook does the male’s unpreparedness to cook become an issue and (may be) regarded as a problem in the couple’s relationship. The unpreparedness of males to cook is particularly evident in the absence of women, notably in post-divorce situations. Those who had performed cooking tasks previously or during the marriage were usually better prepared. For others, carrying out these tasks, either by choice or by imposition (for example, due to financial difficulties in the post-divorce period), meant facing many internalised social constraints. The support from close female figures (mother, friends, girlfriend, or colleagues) seems to be crucial in the path of self-instruction. The cookbook is both a new and old instrument that (also) serves this purpose. Variation: Bringing Men into the Kitchen with Cookbooks At this point, a variation is introduced in the gender division of labour related to the food preparation noted above. It is true that the generalisation of technology for cooking has followed in time the entry of men into the kitchen. In this context, I now turn upon specific accounts of men when referring to the use of the Bimby (Thermomix) in association with its recipe book. This food processor combines the functions of various utensils and small kitchen appliances: “it minces, chops, purees, weighs, stirs, grates, grinds, blends, cooks and simmers; in fact, it does the work of at least twelve kitchen devices and practically cleans itself when food preparation is done” (Vorwerk). Additionally, in order to be exploited to the fullest, the Thermomix comes with a cookbook whose instructions should be, it states, strictly followed. With this appliance, offering 12 functions in one single product, one can cook “everyday meals or elaborate menus, European or Asian specialties” (Vorwerk), with the guarantee that including soups, main courses and desserts, “everything turns out delicious” (Vorwerk). Pedro is 35; he has been married since 2000 and is the father of two boys, one 7 and the other 4 years old. His wife offered him this machine and corresponding cookbook with the aim of “encouraging” him to undertake some cooking tasks. However, he admits, “the result was only partially achieved.” He points out: “I can cook with the Bimby ... and even more through the Bimby; I admit, than with pots and all that.” Although strictly following the cookbook, Pedro recognises that he always “needs more time [than his wife] to make things work well in the kitchen.” Pedro feels that he lacks the “experience” and “training” that enables his wife to cook everything “very fast”: “Cooking very [emphasis added], very fast, honestly: I can’t! She can do it even when she is in a hurry ... If I have to read the recipes ... I have to take enough time to read and interpret them! And she ... she usually does it ... she doesn’t even have to think about it!” The gift of the Bimby was a purposeful means of trying to overcome some of the difficulties Pedro has in the kitchen. Metaphorically, I envisage it as a kind of “sugar” aimed to sweeten Pedro’s lack of cooking skills: “She [his wife] offered me the Bimby but ... the problem, I already told her ‘I could cook, but you have to give me enough time to cook!’”. Surprisingly in relation to such a piece of equipment that promotes itself as “the most superior kitchen appliance” (Vorwerk), using it is not simple for Pedro. The explanation, again, seems to be in the fact that his wife—in his perspective—does everything so “routinely” and in such an “intuitive” way that he can’t follow her example, despite using the cookbook. Additionally, his “inexperience,” “uncertainty,” and “slowness” sometimes rouses a lack of patience in his wife who, in turn, embodies all the opposite attributes. Sometimes, he says, the situation comes to a point where she tells him: “at this pace, it’s not worth it!” These are the cases where the kitchen overflows to an arena of tension, eventually even conflict, between knowing and doing (Casimiro). Pedro then “gets annoyed,” especially when his wife wants to set a pace he cannot keep up with: “Often I tell her ‘if you want to explain things to me, you have to waste some time with it.’ If you do not want to waste time, it [my cooking] is not worth it!”. Rui is 34, lives in a de-facto union and is the father of two boys, one four years of age and the youngest one-year-old. His example adds to the case of Pedro. The Bimby is also the “only cooking experience” Rui has beyond the grill. He admits he uses it, especially to cook soups for his youngest child, but still he prefers to leave his wife responsible for that task while he performs others. He recognises that using the Bimby, the task of cooking the soups is “fairly easy.” However, not everything runs smoothly: “Once I forgot to add water [laughs]; nonetheless, it went well [laughs]; it was not so bad! [laughs]”. The irony is that Rui reveals how he generally prefers to leave the kitchen to this wife: I have a script for kitchen because we have the famous Bimby, you’ve heard about it, right? Ok! I have a cookbook with a script of how to make the soup ... Honestly, I have done it four or five times, no more than that. I’d rather clear up the kitchen, wash the baby bottles, clean up the room, to put one of the kids to bed; these are my evening’ tasks. Not the soup because I ... I ... I even strive to do it ... but the true is that it does not always run smoothly. Both Pedro and Rui reveal the tensions some men face when appropriating kitchen appliances in the context of the contemporary couple’s relationships claiming of equality. Purposely used by some women as a dose of “sugar,” it eventually ends up to “spicing” rather than “sweetening” the relationship. At first sight, the use of the cookbook enables even the most unprepared individual to succeed in the kitchen. Nonetheless, as in the above cases, some men carry with them the (absence) of a socialisation for cooking that strongly shapes their use (and misuse) of the cookbook. The evoked arguments strongly emphasise the “tradition,” “experience,” “training,” “practice” and “mastery” they lack when compared to women. While this can be the epicentre of existing tensions between the couple, it underlines subtle yet profound socialisation processes, internalised values, and social roles. In questioning these complex relations, the transforming power of the cookbook has to be put in relative terms, since it allows—at least sometimes—for only a skin-deep change. Serving: The Cookbook—Sugar or Spice? Notwithstanding the several possible approaches to gendered culture in the kitchen, this text had no quantitative, generalisation, class, or culture comparative purpose. Instead, through a qualitative and in-depth approach, its main goal was to explore both the power and the limits of the cookbook as an instrument sometimes used by women aiming a greater participation of men in the cooking tasks. This arises as a particularly interesting issue in a context where men admitted that they were not domestically socialised as children or teenagers to clean, wash, or cook and, additionally, many of them went directly from their origin families into a procreation family. Summing up, cookbooks are not magical devices that can erase, at once, the complex and profound socialisation processes, internalized values, and social roles. In context, the cookbook can be either “sugar” or “spice” at the top of the gender culture. While, at the forefront, it can be purposely used by women to overcome some of the hardships men face at the kitchen; in the background its use (and misuse) reinforces the persistence of some gaps (still) unveiled through a previous and wider socialisation for cooking. More and more visible in contemporary society as either family or cultural heritage artefacts, media products or scientific outputs, cookbooks remain a site of endless interest, and this is also true in the sociological enquiry. In this article, analysing the use of a specific cookbook by men provides a forum through which the gender cultures can be examined in a simultaneously creative and fruitful way. As in the kitchen, one just has to “light the stove”. References Aboim, Sofia. “Gender Cultures and the Division of Labour in Contemporary Europe: A Cross-national Perspective.” The Sociological Review 58.2 (2010): 171–96. Bardin, Laurence. L’Analyse de Contenu. Paris: PUF, 1977. 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