The government eventually gave in in part to the demands of the unions representing state workers and decided to extend the progression accelerator, which allows career advancement by six points instead of the current 10 from 2024, to employees with individual contracts from EPE hospitals, as long as they are under collective bargaining. “The measure will affect public business entities integrated into the National Health Service, through existing collective bargaining agreements,” said the Presidency Ministry’s statement, which was sent yesterday at the end of the meeting with the three civil service unions (Fesap , common front and STE)
“About 50,000 will be covered, including assistants, administrative staff and senior technicians in EPE hospitals,” José Abraão revealed to DN/Dinheiro Vivo, the general secretary of the Federation of Public Administration Unions (Fesap). But this change has no effect on the diploma project that is drawn up by the management. That is, the law maintains the premise that the measure is only intended for employees with a public employment relationship and who fall under the Public Administration Performance Assessment System (SIADAP) or adapted systems (adapted SIADAP), as is the case for seniors. diagnostic technicians, which dictates the exclusion of all employees with individual contracts, such as public health personnel.
350,000 civil servants benefit from the measure, which will cost 128 million euros in the coming years. In 2024, 72 thousand will be added, at a cost of 36.3 million euros.
To include these workers in the progression accelerator, the Secretary of State for Public Administration, Inês Ramires, preferred a different solution and yesterday announced to the unions that the application of the measure in EPE hospitals will be through a “circular, which will be signed by the Ministries of the Presidency, Finance and Health,” José Abraão clarified to DN/DV.
However, there is “a problem”, the union leader pointed out, regarding “hospitals, such as Beatriz Ângelo, in Loures, which have not yet joined the 2018 collective agreement”, which equates individual contracts with public employment contracts. If these health units do not subscribe to that collective regulatory tool, their employees with individual contracts will automatically be excluded from the progression accelerator, José Abraão warned.
Cumulatively, and to benefit from the measure, these employees must also have more than 18 years of service, after the two career break periods, between 2005 and 2007 and between 2011 and 2017.
Thus, the only change foreseen by the government diploma is the extension of the progression accelerator to employees who have changed careers during the more than 18 years of work, for example from technical assistant to senior technician, a hypothesis that was excluded from the initial project.
The growth accelerator, which allows an additional wage jump, with the resulting salary increase, is a one-off measure, i.e. employees can only benefit from this mechanism once, starting in January 2024. points to progress in advance, the rest is not lost and counts for the next performance review.
The Secretary of State for Public Administration announced that the measure, which will benefit approximately 350,000 workers, ie almost half of state workers, is estimated to cost €128 million worldwide over the next few years. In 2024, 72 thousand workers will move on earlier under this exceptional regime, for an amount of 36.3 million euros.
Source: DN
