It began at 4pm yesterday afternoon and ended in the early hours of this morning (June 5). Thursday’s meeting between the government (in the form of Interior Minister Anabela Rodrigues) and the PSP’s largest police syndicate was always destined to be a political minefield. Will the pay increases offered calm mounting unrest among rank-and-file members?
That’s the question, Diário de Notícias writes today, that still remains unanswered.
For now, the bottom line is that Rodrigues has refused to reduce weekly working hours to the 36 demanded by police unions, and she has lopped holiday benefit.
Both these “demands” were part of a series of requirements put forward by 12 PSP syndicates.
On the other hand, the minister has increased salaries to the tune of “around €50 per month” (total cost to the government calculated at “around €10 million); she has brought early-retirement regulations in line with those enjoyed by the GNR, and she has agreed to new rules which allow for quicker career progression.
In the run-up to yesterday’s meetings, unions were in “battle mode” and reported to be “studying new forms of protest” over what they have repeatedly called the minister’s “intransigence”.
DN explained that last night, Paulo Rodrigues – the union leader at the forefront of negotiations – insisted that everything be written down, as the minister has been criticised in the past for “creating confusion” between all the unions involved by “giving different information from meeting to meeting”.
As thousands of police are unsure what to think of last night’s “result”, Paulo Rodrigues’ “round up” is being eagerly awaited.
