The Ministry of Public Service and the three most representative unions of the Administration, CSIF, UGT and CC OO, met this Wednesday to discuss the salary increase for three and a half million public employees. As the Government explained, it proposes a multi-year increase with a fixed component and a variable component, “so that public employees do not lose purchasing power”. That is, wages grow at least as much as prices. The multi-year agreement, as specified by the unions, would cover the period from 2026 to 2028. Both parties underline that the data have not yet been discussed and that, according to the unions, they will be defined at a meeting to be held on November 19. Negotiation sources indicate that the Public Service is awaiting the margin granted by the Treasury to detail the proposed increases.
Neither the unions nor the executive provided figures during the meeting, according to the negotiators, but the Public Service specified in a statement that the increase will at least correspond to the evolution of prices: “The objective is to establish a multi-year framework that includes salary increases linked to a fixed and a variable component, so that public employees do not lose purchasing power.” This is a similar scheme to the one already adopted in the last agreement (from 2022 to 2024), with part of the increase linked to prices (which in the latest interannual data showed an increase of 3.1%) and the evolution of GDP.
“In the wage freeze we thought there might be something today, but they told us that they are not able to provide any figures. What all the trade union organizations have made clear is that the year 2025 must have a well-differentiated wage increase. It cannot remain a year of freezing,” said UGT representative Isabel Araque. The previous agreement between officials and the ministry (supported by CC OO and UGT, but not CSIF) provided for increases from 2022 to 2024. Once fulfilled, the establishments ask that 2025 not be left in limbo. “The first meeting wasn’t bad,” underlined Araque, before specifying that the table is structured into three blocks: wages, work and rights.
Lucho Palazzo, of the CC OO, underlined that the Government is “late” on this negotiation, which it had postponed with the excuse that the increase was part of the new General State Budgets. Faced with the increasingly unlikely possibility of carrying them forward (given that Junts has closed the door to the Executive), the unions insisted on separating the two files. “With the economic data that this country has, with the government saying that we will go at full speed, it is not acceptable that we have 3.5 million public employees with frozen salaries,” added the trade unionist.
For his part, the CSIF negotiator, Francisco Lama, assessed the start of negotiations “positively”, but expressed “concern” at the failure to specify the increase in the first meeting. “We ask for improvements in pensions, working hours or teleworking. And we want the agreement to have retroactive effects applicable to the whole of 2025,” added Lama. His union, which rejected the previous agreement because it failed to compensate for the drop in prices, warns that the demonstrations will depend on the progress of the negotiations.
“The agreement that the Public Service wants to reach with the trade unions also includes a series of organizational improvements, as well as continuing to advance in the consolidation of the rights of public employees,” adds the ministry chaired by Óscar López.
