Union sets out progress in implementing national agreement

The FSC-CCOO and FeSP-UGT public service federations say they will organise action in September unless there is progress in implementing a key agreement covering workers in the state administration. The unions say that two months after signing the agreement no progress has been made in attributing occupations to the new pay structure and so there is a delay in paying workers their new salaries and any back pay. The FeSP-UGT also raises concerns about the failure to fully implement other agreements covering state workers, including ones on additional funds, mobility and temporary work.

The two-and-a-half-year national pay agreement signed at the end of 2004 includes a provision for pay increases in 2006 to benefit the low paid and women workers in particular. On average rises for all workers should work out at 2.5% in 2005 and 2.1% in 2006. But higher increases for the low paid in 2005 and the 0.3% equality supplement for 2006 mean that over the course of the agreement workers in the cleaning sector, for example, should see pay rise by 5.1% while increases in the technology sector will be around 4.5%. EIRO also reports that around two-thirds of public sector workers are now

After many years of campaigning by public service unions, the government finally included provisions in the 2021 budget to ensure that public employers could pay an allowance for work that is arduous, risky or poses a threat to health. However, any decision on paying the allowance is left to local level and so unions are approaching local authorities to negotiate over the allowance. The STAL local government union is currently focusing its efforts in the Portalegre district in the east of the country where several parish councils and a municipality have already agreed on the payment. STAL is