Police unions and government fail to reach agreement
Portugal’s Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) and the PSP unions and GNR associations failed to reach an agreement over increases to their risk allowances.
“There was no agreement. It was a long marathon. There was a proposal from the MAI that we didn’t go along with,” Bruno Pereira, spokesman for the platform of PSP unions and GNR associations, told reporters at the end of the meeting with the minister of internal affairs.
According to the leader of the National Union of Police Officers, the figure presented by the MAI “was half of what” the platform was arguing for.
On Tuesday, the government proposed a €300 increase in the risk supplement for the PSP and GNR, which would be paid in phases until 2026. This would increase the supplement from the current €100 to €400.
According to the proposal, the €300 increase would be paid in three instalments, with €200 in July and the rest at the beginning of 2025 and 2026, with an increase of €50 each year.
With this proposal, the fixed component of the current supplement for service and risk in the security forces would rise from €100 to €400 while maintaining the variable component of 20% of the basic salary of GNR soldiers and PSP police officers.
Bruno Pereira considered this to be “a figure that does not express the dignity” of police officers.
The leader of the union that represents the majority of PSP commanders and directors said that during the meeting, which lasted around six hours, the unions and associations made concessions and tried to shorten the distance between the government’s proposal and that of the platform, which proposes an increase of around €600.
He explained that during the meeting, the unions proposed a lower figure and put on the table an increase of €400 paid in three instalments: €200 this year, €100 in 2025, and another €100 in 2026.
“We tried to give them some leeway so they could meet us, but they said it was impossible because there was no budgetary margin to do so, and we couldn’t go along and decided not to sign up to the proposal,” he said.
According to Bruno Pereira, no new meeting with the minister has been scheduled at the moment.
However, he said he still believed that “there might be a step (forward) and some awareness on the part of the government”.
“I feel immense sadness at not leaving here with an agreement,” he said, noting that the platform that brings together 11 PSP unions and GNR associations will now meet to decide on the future.
Asked about future protests, Bruno Pereira replied that “more than the protests, I’m afraid of the discouragement, sadness and demotivation (of the police) that (…) could now reach levels never seen before.”
Halfway through the meeting, the Autonomous Police Union Association, which is not part of the platform of PSP unions and GNR associations, and the Independent Union of Police Officers (SIAP) and National Police Union (Sinapol), which belong to the platform, walked out of the negotiations because they didn’t agree with the proposal.
This was the fourth proposal that the minister of internal affairs has presented to the PSP unions and GNR associations.
Source: LUSA
