Lisbon, Sept. 26, 2025 (Lusa) - The Portuguese Common Front group of trade unions announced on Friday a general strike by public administration workers on 24 October if the Government does not improve its proposals for salary rises, which it considers unacceptable.
"We will hold a strike on 24 October, a 24-hour national strike by public administration workers, if the Government does not reach a point that allows for the signing [of an agreement] by the most representative structure of workers, which is us," said the leader of the Common Front, Sebastião Santana, in statements to journalists at the end of the first negotiation meeting with the secretary of state for Public Administration, Marisa Garrido, at the Ministry of Finance in Lisbon.
The Common Front said that the government today proposed an increase of €56.58 in 2026, €60.52 in 2027 and 2028, maintaining what was provided for in the agreement signed in 2024, and the extension of the agreement until 2029, with an increase of €60.52.
For the unions, "this proposal was unacceptable when it was first put forward, and today it is even more unacceptable," taking into account the increase in the cost of living.
"We continue to have the same salaries, which means we are promoting a path to impoverishment," stressed the leader of the Common Front, pointing out that "the Government has all the conditions to reverse this process, even to call off this strike, but it has to respond, and that response is a long way off, at least for now."
Currently, the national minimum wage is €870 and the remuneration base for the civil service (commonly known as the state minimum wage) is €878.41.
In November 2024, the Government signed a new multi-year agreement with two of the civil service trade union structures (Fesap and Frente Sindical) to provide enhancement to the remuneration of public administration workers.
The agreement provides for increases of at least €56.58 for gross monthly salaries of up to €2,631.62 and a minimum of 2.15% for higher salaries in 2026.
For 2027 and 2028, the agreement establishes an increase of at least €60.52 or a minimum of 2.3%.
"Given this scenario of continued devaluation of public administration workers, which is what extending this agreement further and not changing the essentials means, what the Common Front will do is give public administration workers the opportunity to fight against this process," Sebastião Santana said today.
The organisation said it had made it clear to the secretary of state that it was willing to negotiate "a way to reverse this impoverishment" and that it had added a number of other issues that it considers to be priorities, such as the restoration of the public sector link to public administration workers, which it says would not cost the State "a single cent".
Sebastião Santana also stressed the importance of ending precariousness in the civil service and defending public services, but on the latter issue, he said he had "serious doubts that an agreement can be reached, given the government's strategy".
The Trade Union Front, led by STE, is demanding a 6.4% pay rise for all civil servants in 2026 and an update of the meal allowance to €12.
Fesap, meanwhile, proposes that the basic salary in the civil service should rise to €973.41 in 2026 and a minimum update of €95 for all workers, in addition to an increase in the meal allowance to €10 per day, tax-free.
For its part, the Common Front is demanding a 15% pay rise of at least €150 from 1 January, as well as an increase in the meal allowance to €12.
MPE/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
