Less secure jobs …

European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and Business Europe, representing employers in the 27-nation block - at a meeting with EU leaders in Lisbon, reached the agreement upon the “flexicurity”

Flexicurity (from flexibility and security) is a welfare state model with a pro-active labour market policy, first implemented in Denmark, in the 1990s. It is a combination of easy hiring and firing (flexibility for employers) and high benefits for the unemployed (security for the employees).

The agreement states, besides the need to make it easier for employers to hire and fire people, that there must be also measures regarding working conditions and quality of jobs, such as:
- ensuring career and employment security;
- maintaining and promoting the health and well-being of workers;
- developing skills and competencies;
- reconciling working and non-working life.

During the meeting, Portugal’s main trade union organized a demonstration opposing the labour market reforms, with about 150,000 - 200,000 people, and banners such as “Jobs with rights — Against Flexicurity” and “Portugal won’t move forward with Flexicurity”.