The spokesman for the platform that brings together the structures of the PSP and GNR today expressed reservations about the meeting with the Minister of Internal Affairs, since all the unions without negotiating rights with the government were invited.
The Minister of Internal Affairs, Margarida Blasco, began a meeting with the PSP unions and GNR associations at 16:00, a meeting that should serve to open the negotiation process with a view to “dealing with issues related to careers and pay status”.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, all PSP unions and GNR associations were invited to the first meeting with the minister, with 16 security forces structures attending the meeting.
The PSP’s union law limits the right to negotiate with the government to the unions with the largest number of members, of which there are seven in the Public Security Police.
In the case of the GNR, there are five existing associations and those that have the right to negotiate.
Before entering the meeting, Bruno Pereira, president of the National Union of Police Officers and spokesman for the platform that brings together 11 unions and associations from the PSP and GNR, told journalists that the presence of unions without the right to negotiate shows “the real reason for the meeting”.
Bruno Pereira also said he hoped the minister would present at the meeting “something more than what was written in the government program”.
The meeting with the PSP unions and GNR associations was announced on Thursday by the Prime Minister, in the Assembly of the Republic, during the debate on the program of the XXIV Constitutional Government.
Luís Montenegro then said that talks will begin with representatives of the security forces “with a view to dealing with issues related to careers and pay status”, with the first meeting with the forces representing the police scheduled for today.
In the notice sent to the PSP unions and GNR socio-professional associations, the MAI did not indicate the reason for the meeting.
The government’s program states that a process to “dignify the careers” and “professional and remunerative development” of police officers will be initiated “as a matter of priority”, without mentioning the mission supplement.
The award of a mission supplement to police officers, identical to the one awarded by the previous government to members of the Judicial Police, is the main demand of members of the PSP and GNR, who staged several protests in the first two months of the year.
The platform, which in the case of the PSP is made up of the seven unions with the right to negotiate, was created to demand a review of pay supplements in the security forces, particularly the mission supplement.
In addition to the minister, the meeting will be attended by the Secretary of State for Internal Affairs, Telmo Correia, and the Secretary of State for Public Administration, Marisa Garrido.
