The three federations of civil servants’ unions and the government will start negotiating rounds on the salary update for 2023 next Monday, October 3. With inflation reaching 7.7% this year, the demand for state workers is expected to rise above the target, according to the Public Finance Council forecast. inflation to prevent a loss of purchasing power. But the prime minister, António Costa, has already warned he doesn’t want to go that far, waving 2% more promotions and updates for a conversation starter.
Meetings with the State Secretary for Public Administration, Inês Ramires, start at 11:30 AM with the Union of Technical Staff (STE), continue at 3:00 PM with the Public Administration Union Front (Fesap) and at 4:30 PM with the Federation of Public Trade Unions (Common Front).
At this meeting, which will take place a week before the presentation of the 2023 government budget proposal, the executive branch must submit a proposal for a salary update for public administration employees. The Prime Minister, António Costa, has already admitted that the government cannot keep up with the rise in inflation, indicating that 2% would be the benchmark for updates. The Finance Minister, Fernando Medina, came later to clarify that it was still necessary to take promotions and progressions into account.
What is certain is that the three union federations will not accept updates below inflation and are already threatening protests, strikes and even a national strike if the executive does not show openness to negotiations.
Fesap, influencing UGT, “will not accept increases below inflation, which is 7.7% and may be even higher,” José Abraão, secretary general of that union federation, told Dinheiro Vivo. But the claims don’t stop there. The union leader also defends “the increase in the entry wage in public administration from the current 705 to 775 euros”, “the increase of the meal allowance from 4.77 euros per day to 6 euros”, in addition to the “revision of the Integrated System Management and Performance Assessment in Public Administration (SIADAP), which currently allows only 5% of employees to achieve an excellent grade.
The proposal, which the Common Front is expected to adopt on Thursday, September 29, and which it will submit to the government, is aimed at “a 10% increase for all workers, with a guarantee of at least 100 euros, to recover the lost salary.” which reached 15.4% in January compared to 2009,” he told DV Sebastião Santana, secretary general of that union organization to the CGTP. “If the government proves intransigent, the Common Front will not rule out any form of struggle, including a national strike,” he warned.
“STE will propose increases between 7% and 8%, in terms of collective bargaining,” revealed Helena Rodrigues, chair of this structure, adding that the union has the flexibility to negotiate the values of the increases, also taking into account ” the SIADAP, the meal allowance that amounts to 4.77 euros per day and which the union understands should increase to 7 euros”. If the executive proves inflexible, the STE threatens strikes, protests and “a joint national strike”.
Salomé Pinto is a journalist for Dinheiro Vivo
Source: DN
