Arménio Carlos, secretary-general of the CGTP, spoke after a meeting at its Lisbon headquarters with Edgar Silva, the Communist Party's candidate for January's presidential elections. He was asked about reports that the federation might be open to the idea of phasing in an increase in the minimum wage, or SMN as it is known, to the level it is demanding, in the context of ongoing talks between the Socialist Party, Left Bloc and Communist Party on an alternative government to the current right-of-centre coalition.


"Don't think we'll accept that, as a pretext in this discussion, putting off resolving the SMN," Carlos said. "It must be updated. It's the government's responsibility to do that every year and, on 1 January, there has to be a new SMN.


"Its value ... we're ready to discuss," he added. "Others should also be ready to say what they want to see."


The CGTP proposal to increase the minimum wage to €600 a month from 1 January is in line with that of the Communist Party, with which it has close relations.


"We shall await counterproposals from the employer confederations and perhaps from the new government or from parliament and the new majority that might be constituted there," Carlos said. "when others tell us what they want, we'll be here. That's how you negotiate."