More than 142,000 Basque civil servants will have a 9.5% increase in salary in three years

by time news

The Basque Government will apply the increase agreed yesterday in Madrid with the UGT and CC OO and which did not have the support of CSIF

Bittersweet ending in the express negotiation that the Government has maintained in recent days on the salary conditions of civil servants for this year and the following two. CSIF, one of the majority unions of the Public Administration, makes it impossible for the Executive to reach a unanimous agreement by showing its “absolute rejection” of the offer that the Ministry of Finance refused to improve on Monday: an increase of up to 9.5 % for the more than three million public employees during the 2022-2024 period, which in the Basque Country will benefit more than 142,000 civil servants.

The Basque Government has reiterated these days that it will apply the increase agreed in Madrid, since it is a basic regulation as it is included in the General State Budgets, so it has no room for maneuver to raise that increase as requested by the Basque unions. Of course, he has also stressed that he will not cut it.

UGT and CCOO, however, did ratify this agreement on Monday, although the organization led by Unai Sordo conditions it to include another series of agreed improvements in the text in the coming weeks, such as the 35-hour working day, teleworking or payment of 100% of sick leave due to temporary disability.

The final offer from the Ministry of Finance includes not only the increase for the next two years, but for the first time it reviews that initial 2% that was set in the Budgets for this year and accesses that additional 1.5% that the unions demanded for the escalation of prices. Thanks to this increase, which will be retroactive from January 1 and will be consolidated in their payroll, officials will receive a pay of more than 500 euros gross on average before the end of the year.

For 2023, the Executive will approve a fixed increase of 2.5% for the public sector, which may rise to 3.5% depending on how the economy and inflation evolve. Specifically, if the sum of the harmonized CPI for 2022 and 2023 exceeds 6%, they will have a variable of 0.5%. In turn, if the nominal GDP in 2023 reaches 5.9%, they will get another 0.5% more, although this bonus seems quite difficult to achieve given the slowdown in the economy. Both would be retroactive and would take comfort in their payroll.

Looking ahead to 2024, officials will see their remuneration increased by 2% with an extra half percentage point if the harmonized CPI for 2022, 2023 and 2024 exceeds 8%; that is, if prices grow more than the fixed increase that has been applied to them, something that is feasible given that only in 2022 inflation has grown by 9%. It will also be retroactive and consolidatable.

From CSIF they warned that, despite the fact that the Executive tries to “adorn this agreement with a rehash of working conditions that in many cases already had to be developed”, these new increases -which they put at 6% until 2024, since the 2% of this year was already agreed and the other 1.5% is variable – “they do not even serve to correct” the inflation of 2022, which can close between 8% and 9%, according to forecasts.

THE KEYS

  • 500
    gross euros on average will receive public officials in a pay before the end of this year thanks to the increase.

  • 2022
    Increase of the initial 2% plus an additional 1.5% for the price increase

  • 2023
    Fixed 2.5% hike that could rise to 3.5% depending on the economy

  • 2024
    Increase of 2% with an extra 0.5% percentage if the harmonized CPI of the three years exceeds 8%

“We have found ourselves with an immobile government that has lost a good opportunity to compensate all workers in the public sphere and of having marked the employers of private companies,” denounced the president of the organization, Miguel Borra, who did not rule out repeating the “great mobilization” of last September 24 that brought together tens of thousands of citizens and even warned that they can “go to other types of actions”, alluding to possible strikes.

35 hour journey

The pre-agreement reached with the UGT and CCOO – which must be reflected in a document and ratified in the coming weeks – not only sets future remuneration, but also includes important improvements in the working conditions of public employees, such as the full payment of sick leave due to temporary incapacity (IT) without any type of conditioning, the elimination of the restrictions that prevent the negotiation and implementation of a 35-hour working day in the Public Administrations, the recovery of early partial retirement or the advance in digitization and the teleworking through social dialogue.

It has also been possible to recover the minimum character of permits and vacations in collective bargaining and the flexibility of internal promotion, the review of selective processes and the regularization of the conditions of labor personnel abroad (PLEX) are included. Likewise, although it has not managed to completely eliminate the replacement rate to recover public employment, they have agreed to make it more flexible so that the workforce can be increased.

You may also like

Leave a Comment