The chair of the State Union of Technical Staff (STE), Helena Rodrigues, said Monday that the government’s proposal to expand the civil service is inadequate in the face of inflation and will lead to a loss of purchasing power.
The union leader spoke at the end of a meeting with the Minister of the Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, and the State Secretary for Public Administration, Inês Ramires, in Lisbon, where the leaders presented a proposal for a minimum monthly salary increase of 52 euros per employee in 2023, which will be repeated every year until the end of the legislature (2026).
Despite the guarantee of a minimum increase of 52 euros, the increases will be differentiated, ranging from 8% for the lowest remuneration and 2% for salaries from 2,570.82 euros.
“We are going to lower the wages of some, we are going to make some workers lose purchasing power to give to others”criticized Helena Rodrigues.
“We thought the government could do better and currently has the resources and capabilities to do that”defended the chairman of the STE.
The STE presented its proposal to the government on Monday for an update of more than 7%.
“What the government is putting to us isn’t 8% for everyone, so it’s below”added Helena Rodrigues, pointing out that only the careers of operations assistant and technical assistant guarantee above the government’s estimated inflation of 7.4% for this year.
The government on Monday proposed to the unions of the public administration a wage increase of between 2% and 8%, with a guarantee of at least about 52 euros per month per year until 2026, the minister of the presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, told Lusa. .
The minimum annual increase for the civil service corresponds to a change in the salary level (about 52 euros), ranging between 8% for the lowest pay in the table, which is 705 euros, and 2% for income from 2,570.82 euros.
“This means that this salary update mechanism will increase government salaries by an average of 3.6% over the next year”the minister emphasized in statements to Lusa.
This new update mechanism is multi-year, valid until 2026, which according to Mariana Vieira da Silva “gives some predictability to the salary increases over the four years” of the legislature, although there may be some revisions every year, depending on economic realities and the financial situation. situation of the country, he admitted.
However, Mariana Vieira da Silva guaranteed that no civil servant would receive a raise of less than 208 euros in four years.
In 2022, most of the 740 thousand civil servants had a 0.9% pay increase, in line with inflation in 2021, excluding deflation.
Source: DN
