The government is proposing to public administration unions on Monday salary increases of between 8% and 2%, with a guarantee of at least about EUR 52 a year until 2026, said Presidency minister Mariana Vieira da Silva.
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 through this salary update mechanism, government salaries will increase 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.
Mariana Vieira da Silva, however, guaranteed that no civil servant will receive less than 208 euros in wages for a total of four years.
“This salary update mechanism guarantees that all civil servants have at least a value close to what the minimum wage increase was, meaning that there is no Portuguese civil servant who, during this entire term of office, until the end, an increase of less than 208 euros”emphasized the governor.
The minister also stressed that with the 8% increase, the basic pay of the public administration (which currently corresponds to the national minimum wage of EUR 705) will increase to EUR 761.58 next year, “to ensure that there is no loss of the salary for these officials because of the value of inflation”, which the government estimates at 7.4% for 2022.
The 8% increase will cover 123,607 officials, according to the executive’s accounts.
It also means that “all salaries up to 1,000 euros will receive an increase of at least 5.5%”underlined the minister and added that in this situation there are about 260 thousand employees, which corresponds to a third of the public administration.
The Single Remuneration Table (TRU) for the civil service has 115 reward levels, starting at 705 euros and increasing to 6,427.06 euros.
The increases proposed by the government between 2% and 8% thus result in increases from approximately EUR 52 (for income between EUR 709.46 and EUR 2,570.82) up to a maximum of EUR 128.54, for the highest compensation in the table (6,427 .06 euros).
For example, an employee with a gross salary of 955.37 euros has a wage increase of 5.5%, which corresponds to the minimum value of about 52 euros.
An employee who earns 3,039.82 euros will receive a wage increase of 60.80 euros (equivalent to 2%).
In addition to the salary increase proposal, the government is also proposing to unions to review the TRU, as foreseen in the government’s program.
In this context, the government’s proposal for the next four years provides for a valuation of the careers of senior technician and technical assistant and a salary differentiation in the careers of operational assistants, who will have different pay values during their career depending on seniority .
Senior technicians will receive an extra salary jump (another 52 euros), which will be phased throughout the legislature, while technical assistants will see this increase already next year, for a total of 104 euros.
In 2022, most of the 740 thousand civil servants had a 0.9% pay increase, in line with inflation in 2021, excluding deflation.
Valuation of public administration costs 1200 million euros
Measures to strengthen public administration, including salary increases, promotions and career advancement opportunities and the revision of the salary scale, will have a budgetary impact of 1,200 million euros by 2023, the presidency minister told Lusa.
“In total, we are talking about an increase in the payroll, excluding new entries, including the salary update, the revision of the Single Remuneration Table and promotions and progressions in the order of 5.1%, that is 1,200 million euros, a value that compared to last year of 680 million euros”said the minister Mariana Vieira da Silva.
For the governor, the increase in public service payroll by 5.1% “it is the value that best corresponds to the 4.8% annual increase proposed by the government to the social partners in terms of social dialogue”.
Asked about the fact that the 2023 proposal falls short of the government’s estimated inflation rate of 7.4%, the minister emphasized that the salary increase “is in line with what the government is proposing in terms of social dialogue” in the context of the Agreement on Incomes and Competitiveness, emphasizing the need to take into account “an important element, namely progressiveness”.
‘Inflation always hits the lowest income groups more and more difficult’he noted, noting that the proposal for a salary update for the civil service varies between 8% for the lowest salaries (EUR 705) and 2% for the highest (of EUR 2,570.82).
The budgetary impact of 1,200 million euros in the National Budget 2023 (OE2023) includes 738 million euros in salary increases, 284 million euros in advancement and promotions and another 142 million euros with the valuation of the three general careers of public administration.
This Monday, the cabinet is proposing to the civil servants’ unions a multi-year agreement that provides for wage increases between 8% and 2%, with a minimum of about 52 euros per employee (equivalent to a difference in salary level) per year, until 2026, and the improvement of the general career of senior technician, technical assistant and operations assistant.
This year, most of the 740,000 civil servants had a 0.9% salary increase, in line with the inflation rate set in November 2021, excluding 0.1% due to deflation.
The package of measures in 2022 for the civil service, including promotion and promotion, an increase in the minimum wage and new influx, had an impact of 680 million euros, which, according to the cabinet, is equivalent to a 2.7% increase in the payroll. .
Careers in the general civil service will continue to grow throughout the term
The general board positions will receive a salary increase on top of the minimum annual update of 52 euros until 2026, as part of the revision of the remuneration table, whereby this ‘bonus’ will be applied to technical assistants as early as 2023.
The additional salary increase, also 52 euros, for the three general careers is part of the proposal to strengthen public administration that the government is putting to the trade unions in the sector this Monday, in the context of the revision of the Single Remuneration Table ( TRU).
As the Minister of the Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, explained to Lusa, in addition to the proposed annual salary increases, which will guarantee all employees in the public administration a minimum increase of about 52 euros in 2023 and in the following years (until 2026), it is provide for a second package of measures, also multiannual, in the context of the revision of the TRU, an objective included in the government programme.
This package aims to improve the three general careers of public administration (the careers of operational assistant, technical assistant and senior technician), but at different rates and that will be negotiated with the union structures.
In the case of technical assistants, “the guarantee is that, in addition to the valuation that all civil servants will have, all technical assistants will receive an additional EUR 52.11 to ensure that the differentiation “of the career of operational assistant is EUR 104,” causing the decompression of the salary scale,” said the minister.
In other words, in 2023, the career of technical assistant will increase by two levels of TRU (104 euros including the annual salary update), to approximately 860 euros, representing an average salary increase of 10.7%.
For senior technicians, in addition to the annual update, the government is also proposing an additional salary of around €52, but in this case the measure will be phased in, a process to be negotiated with the unions.
This additional raise for senior technicians, which will also result in an overall increase of €104, will cover benefits that did not receive an identical ‘extra’ salary in 2022.
“The expansion of the career of senior technician means that, in addition to the increase for all civil servants, all senior technicians will receive another EUR 52.11 over a period of EUR 52.11 over one of the years, phased over the entire legislature. so that everyone has an added appreciation of one more level of reward”said the minister.
For the operational assistants, who receive the lowest salary of just over 700 euros in public administration, there will be a differentiation according to seniority, with an increase of two levels (104 euros) for employees with more than 30 years of service and of a level (52 euros) for those with more than 15 years of service.
This measure, which will also be implemented in phases throughout the term of office, in combination with the valuation of the wage base, means an increase of 7.5% on average in 2023.
“With the increase in the minimum wage, we now have a large percentage of operational assistants, 100% by 2026, who would be at the same salary level” during her career, Mariana emphasizes Vieira da Silva.
According to the latest statistics from the Directorate-General for Administration and Public Employment (DGAEP), in June there were almost 168 thousand operational assistants, almost 92 thousand technical assistants and 76 thousand senior technicians.
In 2022, most of the approximately 740,000 civil servants had a 0.9% salary increase.
In turn, in 2022, entry-level salaries for the assistant coach career rose by €47.55 in 2022, to €757.01, while the first two positions of the senior technician career rose by €52 (to 1,059). 59 euros and 1,268.04 euros, respectively) and doctorates were valued at around 400 euros (to 1,632.82 euros).
Source: DN
