State Secretary of Public Administration Ines Ramirez said this Wednesday that the wage increase proposal presented to the unions is a “starting point” for negotiations, indicating that increases could also be achieved through other measures.
The government official spoke with reporters after the first round of negotiations with trade union structures regarding salaries for 2024 at the Ministry of the President, where she presented a proposal for an increase, with the values that were already provided for in the agreement. signed a year ago with the UGT trade unions.
“The increase we are proposing is 6.8% based on [remuneratória] to 2% at the top,” said Ines Ramirez, pointing out that the public administration remuneration base next year will be around 821 euros, compared to the current 769.20 euros.
When asked whether the government has the ability to go further, as the trade unions want, the Secretary of State replied that the government will evaluate the proposals presented by the trade union structures.
“The government will now examine the demands that have been submitted to us (…) and we will check how we can put together a wage proposal, which in our opinion should be based not only on a wage update, because we are putting it on first place, evaluating it through other aspects, bonuses, extra work,” said Ines Ramirez.
“We are interested in improving our offer, but this is our starting point,” the government official emphasized.
The Secretary of State also confirmed that the government will review the payment of overtime, daily subsistence allowances and transport allowances, as reported by trade unions after a meeting with the government.
“On October 4, we will present proposals to evaluate overtime, similar to what was done in the Decent Work Agenda, including in the area of daily subsistence allowances and transport subsidies,” Ines Ramirez said.
Decent Work Scheme rules came into force in May and increase the amount paid for overtime work from the 100th hour, but do not currently apply to the public service.
Ines Ramirez also stated that the government will implement “the elimination of local government contributions for ADSE beneficiaries, as well as the funding of policy measures affecting those exempt from ADSE contributions.”
Negotiations began today between the government and trade unions on public administration wages for 2024, with trade union structures demanding higher increases than those stipulated in the agreement signed a year ago.
In October last year, an agreement was signed between the trade union structures of the UGT, the Federation of Civil Service Unions (Fesap) and the State Technical Staff Union (STE), providing for an annual increase of approximately 52 euros (remuneration level) until 2026. or at least 2% per year.
The Common Front, associated with the CGTU, did not sign an agreement with the government in October and will present its proposal today after a union summit, followed by a meeting in front of the President’s Ministry with a trip to the official Prime Minister. residence of António Costa to hand over the document to the government.
Fesap’s proposal for 2024 is for a 6% wage increase to a minimum of €80 per worker, while STE is calling for a rise of more than 5% next year.
Both UGT structures propose to increase the food subsidy from the current six euros to 7.50 euros per day and reduce the discounts for ADSE.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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