Thousands of officials demonstrate in Madrid to demand "a fair salary increase"

“The government is making a mistake, it is losing the support of the street and it will pay for it at the polls,” says the president of CSIF

24 (EUROPE PRESS)

Thousands of civil servants have demonstrated this Saturday in Madrid, convened by the Central Sindical Independiente y de Trabajadores (CSIF), “for a fair salary increase, against social impoverishment and the deterioration of public services.”

The union has assured that more than 70,000 people have attended the demonstration, while the Government Delegation in Madrid has placed the participation between 15,000 and 17,000 people.

Workers from all over Spain, both from the public sector and the private sector, were summoned to this protest, called for 12 noon.

The president of CSIF, Miguel Borra, has affirmed that “the government is being ungrateful” to the workers, “both in the public sector and in the private sector”, and that the massive demonstration “is the first evidence that it is losing the support of the street”.

Borra has highlighted that public employees “have suffered a 20% loss of purchasing power” in the last decade, since the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero “lowered their salaries”. “It cannot be that the crisis always falls on the shoulders of the workers,” he added.

In addition, he has argued that the Government has gone from considering public employees as heroes during the pandemic to treating them ungratefully and ignoring them”, adding that the Government “is making a mistake and will pay for it at the polls”.

Despite the fact that this week the Ministry of Finance has summoned the unions to begin next Wednesday the negotiation of salaries in public administrations within the framework of the next General State Budgets (PGE), CSIF decided to continue with the mobilization before the current economic situation and the lack of effectiveness of the Government’s measures.

Facing this negotiation, Borra, in statements to the media, has assured that they will demand from the Government that “already in this year 2022 there is compensation for the lost purchasing power”, retroactively, and that there is a joint negotiation commitment to the PGE for the years 2023 and 2024.

SALARY EQUIPARATION OF NATIONAL POLICE AND CIVIL GUARD

The National Police and the Civil Guard have also requested during today’s session the salary equalization to the regional security forces.

The general secretary of the Jupol union, Aarón Rivero, has demanded “dignified retirement” for national police and civil guards, who retire with “800 or 900 euros less than a Mosso d’Esquadra.”

Rivero added that, as civil servants, they are also affected by inflation and the loss of purchasing power, having the same consequences “as any other worker.”

Among those attending the demonstration was the Deputy Secretary General of Ciudadanos, Edmundo Bal, who has shown his “support for public employment” and has claimed the need to equalize the salary of the State security forces and bodies.

Bal has also criticized the fact that “other unions that only come out when the PP government is present” were not present at the demonstration.

The former deputy of Vox Macarena Olona, ​​who has also attended the march, has shown her support for the officials and the State security forces who “are fighting for equality with strength and honor”.

UPDATE PUBLIC SALARIES IN 2022 RETROACTIVELY

Specifically, CSIF requires the Government to update public salaries in 2022, retroactively, to recover the purchasing power lost this year in line with the measure adopted by France last July.

In addition, they demand a multi-year salary increase agreement that allows progress to be made in recovering the purchasing power of public employees, which has been diminished since 2010, and they ask the Government to engage in a transparent and objective debate on the future of pensions.

They also call for the implementation of effective economic measures to help workers combat the “disproportionate” rise in the price of the shopping basket, electricity and energy, and urge the Executive to guarantee quality public services providing both the necessary material and human resources.

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