The government is putting pressure on unions to conclude a four-year salary agreement with an overall increase of 11% for the period 2025-2028, which will rise to 11.45% if the cumulative effect is taken into account. The UGT, CCOO and CSIF met on Monday for about five hours with the Ministry of Public Function, however They were unable to reach a consensus that would satisfy all parties.
Negotiating sources indicate that the government pushed to close the agreement tonight, but the unions refused, considering that there is still room for improvement. Public function. Parts An appointment has been set for next Wednesday at six in the evening to try to solve the obstacles Earrings.
The biggest problem is the salary increase that the government offered during the first two years. According to the unions, the public service refuses to allow the increase in that two-year period to exceed 4%, which the union organizations consider insufficient because it will lose purchasing power.
According to the union centers. The government on Monday offered a retrospective increase of 2.5% in 2025 Which will be approved by royal decree law this month and will reach the salaries of public employees next December. However, the Public Service has not agreed to raise the 4% ceiling for the first two years which the Labor Committees and CSIF see as the major obstacle to the completion of the text closure.
Lucio Palazzo, general area coordinator of the workers’ committees, said at the end of the meeting: “We do not understand this blockade. We believe that there is room to lift it (the 4% ceiling). The economy is growing and we do not understand that public employees have resigned themselves to being less than other increases, whether in the field of pensions or in private salaries.” “We cannot tell people that we will sign an agreement that will be below the CPI in 2026.”He added.
Most analysts’ inflation forecasts indicate that prices will rise somewhat above 4% in that period. Therefore, Public sector employees will not begin to regain purchasing power until 2027. In any case, if long-term inflation expectations come true, the government’s proposed 11.45% offer will not be enough to make up for the purchasing power lost with the 2022-24 payroll charter, when public wages rose by 9.8% in total.