The coordinator of the Common Front of Trade Unions, Sebastião Santana, found the government’s proposal for public service salary increases this Monday inadequate, as it is “far below” inflation and does not address workers’ problems.
Sebastião Santana spoke to journalists after meeting with the Presidency Minister, Mariana Vieira da Silva, and with the State Secretary for Public Administration, Inês Ramires, where the rulers presented a proposal for a minimum salary increase of about 52 euros. 2023, which will be repeated in the coming years, until 2026.
“The government is again presenting a proposal for a salary update that is well below the average inflation rate”underlined the union leader, adding: “it does not already meet the immediate need to deal with the loss of purchasing power in 2022”.
Sebastião Santana said a new meeting with the government is scheduled for Friday, but believed that “the initial impact was far from positive as it does not specifically address the problems of public administration employees”.
The leader of the Common Front also believed that “it will be very complicated to conduct multi-year negotiations”, taking into account “the economy changes every year” and said he would not abandon the annual negotiation process.
Asked about the statements by Prime Minister António Costa, who assured parliament last week that the proposal would not dishonor the state, Sebastião Santana noted that “questions of honor and morality usually do not fit the negotiating tables”.
“We will not call the proposal dishonorable by the state, but we will classify it as insufficient and that will lead to the impoverishment of workers”he added.
On Monday, the cabinet proposed a wage increase between 8% and 2% to the trade unions of the public administration, with a guarantee of at least about 52 euros.
This new update mechanism is multi-year and valid until 2026, although there may be some revisions each year depending on the economic and financial realities of the country, the presidency minister told Lusa.
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
