PSP and GNR associations promise protests in January with Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Administration

PSP unions and GNR associations have vowed to protest since January, demanding increased missions and threatening initiatives by government officials on the ground, actions that could spill over into the election campaign.

This afternoon, on the sidelines of a plenary meeting of the PSP capital command in Lisbon, union leader Armando Ferreira warned that PSP agents and GNA soldiers will hold protests from January, “namely in those places where you can be the first… minister, where may be the Minister of Internal Affairs, as well as in the development of the election campaign.”

The meetings are part of a dispute that began after the government on November 29 approved PJ’s career travel allowance, which in some cases could represent an increase of almost €700 a month.

Members of the PSP and GNR consider this “unequal and discriminatory treatment.”

“[As reuniões] are happening so that we can get a feel for what our colleagues at the local level are thinking, and what is the best way forward for us to demand professional growth and higher wages for both the public security police and the armed forces of the National Republican Guard,” – said the leader of the National Police Union (Sinapol).

The decision will be made by the platform bringing together the PSP trade unions and the GNR trade unions at a meeting to be held at the beginning of the year, he added.

Leaders are witnessing a “gradual evolution” of discontent, and for now “one strategy is to hold plenary meetings at airports, trying to somehow condition the entry and exit of foreigners into Portugal precisely to make sure that the mission at the airport is the mission , which PSP is now responsible for.”

At airports, in addition to PSP agents who receive a bonus of 68.93 euros, there are judicial police officers who can receive up to 960 euros for carrying out “exactly the same mission.”

The union leader believes that “the government has already begun to realize how much power the police can have if they unite” and warned that “the unions are already united.”

Now we need to show strength,” says Armando Ferreira. “There will now be a lot of backlash against the police on a national level due to their discriminatory treatment.”

One of the main reasons, in his opinion, is the discretionary relationship between the security forces, since “it is impossible to assess differently what the risk or danger of the police profession as a whole is, be it for the security forces, the PS and GNR, and then the judicial police “

Regarding possible actions during the election campaign, Armando Ferreira stressed that “PSP professionals and GNR military personnel are in no way politically motivated in anything, they just want their rights to be protected and to be treated the same as others police forces in the country.” Portugal”.

“First of all, we are the ones on the ground, it is we, the public security police and the Republican National Guard, who are the first to decide everything that happens in this country” and “we are the most vulnerable to danger,” he said.

One reason for this unequal treatment relates to trade union rights, since “it is easier to harm those who do not have the right to strike; others have the right to strike and may have pressure mechanisms that we do not have.” “, said Armando Ferreira.

And that is why associations are “using union law to somehow block and limit services,” said Armando Ferreira, leaving the threat: “You never know if this could lead to a situation in which we can somehow try to cause some type of sectoral strike.”