The government proposes to stop cutting costs and transport benefits

As part of the negotiations for the 2024 national budget (OE2024), the government will propose to civil servants’ unions to end cuts in the cost of daily subsistence and transport allowances that have been in place since December 2010.

The government proposal, to which Lusa had access, will be discussed on Wednesday in meetings between Secretary of State for Public Administration Ines Ramirez and three trade union structures in the Ministry of the President in Lisbon, continuing negotiations on measures that will amount to an annual wage update.

In the document, the executive branch proposes to repeal “Article 4 of Decree-Law No. 137/2010 of December 28,” which provides for a reduction in the daily allowance from 15% to 20% and the cost of transport allowances. on 10%.

Reductions in daily allowances and travel allowances were introduced in December 2010 by the Socialist government led by José Sócrates during the financial crisis.

As well as ending the cuts to daily subsistence and transport subsidies, the government’s proposal would also increase overtime hours from 100 hours per year under the Decent Work Agenda.

Thanks to this measure, which was already announced to the unions at the first meeting on September 27, the cost of overtime work from the 100th hour increases from 25% to 50% for the first hour or part thereof, from 37.5% to 75% for the hour or subsequent fraction, on a working day and from 50% to 100% for each hour or fraction, on a weekly, mandatory or additional day of rest, as well as on a holiday.

Regarding the wage update for 2024, at the last meeting with trade unions the government maintained its proposal for a wage-equivalent increase, which corresponds to an increase of 6.8% of the base salary to 2% for the highest salaries. (minimum increase of about 52 euros), as provided for in the multi-year agreement signed a year ago.

However, the trade union structures are demanding higher increases than those contained in the agreement signed last October between the government and the trade union structures of the UGT, the Federation of Civil Service Unions (Fesap) and the State Technical Staff Union (STE).

Fesap’s proposal for 2024 is a 6% wage increase to a minimum of €80 per worker, while STE calls for a rise of more than 5% next year, taking into account developments in inflation and the cost of living.

Both structures also propose to increase the food subsidy from the current six euros to 7.50 euros per day.

The common front of the civil service unions CGTP is demanding a wage increase of at least 15%, with a minimum of €150 for all workers.

With regard to ADSE, the government proposes that amounts equivalent to the rebates that will be due to exempt beneficiaries be covered from the state budget in accordance with conditions to be determined by regulation.

The proposal also stipulates that local authorities will no longer bear ADSE’s health care costs for their workers, which would amount to around 80 million euros a year, according to Fesap, which argues that this amount should be covered by the state budget.