The salary for entering the service of the National Service will again decrease from the national minimum wage in 2023, after two years in which both salaries were at the same level. However, the difference is 1.58 euros, significantly lower than in 2020, of 10.07 euros, and of 35 euros in 2019.
For example, next year the minimum wage in the State will rise to 761.58 euros, barely 1.58 euros or 0.2% above the expected minimum wage of 760 euros. Two years ago, the basis of the Single Public Administration Remuneration Table, which was set at EUR 645.07, EUR 10.07 or 1.5%, was higher than the minimum wage, which amounted to EUR 635.
In 2019, the difference was even greater. That year, entry-level salaries for the Civil Service rose to EUR 635.07, EUR 35 more or 5.8% compared to the minimum guaranteed salary of EUR 600 in the private sector. This means that, despite the executive’s efforts to raise the minimum wage in the state above the private sector minimum wage, the difference is minimal compared to 2020 and 2019.
Decoupling the Civil Service pay basis from the minimum wage was one of the demands of union federations. For 2023, at least the Federation of Public Administration Unions (Fesap) has proposed an increase to 775 euros and the Common Front of Public Administration Unions is defending 805 euros.
In the negotiations that took place yesterday between the Secretary of State for Public Administration, Inês Ramires, and the unions, the government has made an effort to increase the value of the IRS-free meal allowance to 5.20 euros per day, an increase of 0.43 euros compared to the current 4.77 euros, as agreed for the private sector, but there was no room for more. The Secretary of State has been adamant about abolishing larger pay increases in the civil service, maintaining, by 2023, the proposed update of about 10.7% for about 84 thousand technical assistants, 8% and 7.4% for 164 thousand employees, and between 6.4. % and 2% for the remaining 493,698 officials: “The budgetary margin is exhausted with this measure” to increase the meal allowance, said Inês Ramires.
The state secretary said the government has tried to get closer to the unions and has therefore applied the margin that existed “by increasing the meal allowance to EUR 5.20”. With this reinforcement, “the average update of wages goes from 3.6% to 3.9%, although the average increase in the wage bill remains at 5.1%”, according to the minister. This increase in the food subsidy represents an additional cost of 77 million euros, raising the payroll expenditure in the State from 1,200 to 1,277 million euros.
Still, the secretary of state says the executive is “open to dialogue”, stressing that “there is availability for a negotiation commitment in a multi-year perspective”. Beginning in the second half of October, the government will sit down with the unions to establish a calendar for the next four years to “value the careers of senior technicians, technical assistants and specialty careers that are being squeezed by the rise in the national minimum wage”, guaranteed Inês Ramires.
In the original government proposal, senior technicians above the second position will be entitled to an extra EUR 52.11, which corresponds to an extra salary jump that will be paid in phases until 2026. the annual increase of 52.11 euros. In these negotiations, the executive will try to agree with the unions the moment of this extra payment.
Source: DN
