Lisbon, Oct. 16, 2024 (Lusa) - Portugal's government has upgraded its proposal for the monthly base salary of civil servants to €875 in 2025, in order to comply with an agreement to increase the pay of such employees, according to the coordinator of the Common Front trade union platform. 

The government is maintaining its €52 with a minimum 2% for the general update of civil service salaries and has put forward a proposal to increase the salary base by 4.50 euros compared to the proposal it presented previously, to €875 euros, said the coordinator of the National Federation of Unions of Workers in Public and Social Functions, better known as the Frente Comum, Sebastião Santana, as he left meeting with the secretary of state for public administration, Marisa Garrido.   

Currently, the statutory minimum wage is €820 and the base salary for civil servants (also known as the state minimum wage) is €821.83. Last week, the government proposed that this base salary would rise to €870.50 next year; however, unions representing civil servants warned that this proposal did not comply with the agreement to increase these workers' salary signed with the previous, Socialist government, which provides for increases of around €52 for gross monthly salaries of up to €1,754 and 2% for higher ones. 

With the new proposal from the government, the increase from €821.83 gross to €875 gross next year represents a rise of €53.17 or 6.47% - slightly above the 6.1% increase set for the statutory minimum wage.

JMF/ARO // ARO.

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