Lisbon, Nov. 13, 2024 (Lusa) - Portugal's main police union has said that it handed the minister of internal administration three documents containing detailed proposals and political and budgetary reflections for the negotiations on pay and other issues that are to scheduled begin on 6 January.
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, Paulo Santos, president of the Trade Union Association of Police Professionals (ASPP/PSP) said on Wednesday that the union had done this "homework" with a lot of effort and reflection, in order to make it easier for the minister to address, in the context of the debate in parliament of the draft state budget for 2025, procedures that mainly have to do with pay scales, pay supplements and changes to police's Professional Statute.
The union leader said that these proposals are based on the agreements signed with the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI) in July, and so that the government has "a clear idea" of the financial aspects needed "to save the PSP" police force, since "every day there are growing difficulties" in the institution.
Santos said that he had informed the minister that the negotiation process from 6 January will only begin "after all the matters already negotiated have been resolved, including the placement of personnel in the pay rates by service evaluation and the change from three to two years for the change in pay level, as well as the need, since it's already November, to issue the pre-retirement order for this year and the pay services that have yet to be paid."
He also said that the union fears that the executive does not "have the political and financial conditions" for the January negotiations, emphasising that the minister had shown herself to be "sensitive and attentive" to all the issues presented, but that "effective steps need to be taken."
In July, four unions representing PSP officers and the Ministry of Internal Affairs reached an agreement on the allocation of a risk supplement, which resulted in a plan to phase in an increase of €300 between this year and 2026, and on negotiations from January 2025 on other issues related to police pay.
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Lusa
