The Government pressures to close the salary pact with civil servants, but the unions reject it again

The Government is putting pressure on the unions to close a four-year salary agreement with a total increase of 11% for the period 2025-2028, which would rise to 11.45% if the cumulative effect is taken into account. UGT, CCOO and CSIF met this Monday for almost five hours with the Ministry of Public Function, but They have not been able to reach a consensus that convinces all parties.

Negotiation sources indicate that the Government has pushed to close the agreement tonight, but the unions have refused, considering that there is still room for improvement. Public Function. The parts They have been scheduled for next Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. to try to solve the obstacles earrings.

The big problem is the salary increase that the Government has offered for the first two years. According to the unions, the Public Service refuses to allow the increase in that two-year period to exceed 4%, something that the union organizations consider insufficient because purchasing power would be lost.

According to the union centers, This Monday, the Government offered a retroactive increase of 2.5% in 2025 which would be approved by royal decree law this month so that it would reach the payrolls of public employees in December. However, the Public Service has not agreed to lift that 4% ceiling for the first two years that Workers’ Commissions and CSIF see as the great obstacle to finishing closing a text.

“We do not understand this blockade, we believe that there is room to raise it [el techo del 4%]. The economy is growing and we do not understand that public employees are resigned to being below the other increases, both in the field of pensions and in private salaries,” said Lucho Palazzo, coordinator of the Public Area of ​​Workers’ Commissions, at the end of the meeting. “We cannot tell people that we are going to sign an agreement that will be below the CPI in 2026”he added.

The inflation forecasts of most analysts suggest that prices will rise somewhat above 4% in that period. Consequently, Public employees would not begin to recover purchasing power until 2027. In any case, if long-term inflation expectations are met, the 11.45% offer proposed by the Government would not be enough to compensate for the purchasing power that was lost with the salary pact for the period 2022-2024, when public remuneration grew by 9.8% in total.