The Minister of Internal Affairs, Margarida Blasco, is meeting today with the PSP unions and GNR associations, a meeting that should serve to open the negotiation process with a view to “dealing with issues related to careers and pay status”.
The meeting with the 11 structures of the Public Security Police and the National Republican Guard is scheduled for 16:00 at the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI) and 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 said that the government will start talks 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 doesn’t indicate the reason for the meeting, but merely states that it is being held “as part of the social dialogue between the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the unions and the socio-professional associations of the security forces”.
The president of the Police Professionals’ Trade Union Association (ASPP), Paulo Santos, told Lusa that he was unaware of the reason for the meeting, stressing that “given the urgency with which it was arranged, from one day to the next”, he expects “something concrete” to be presented, or a proposal on the allocation of a mission supplement, the main demand of the police.
The president of the National Guard Sergeants’ Association, Ricardo Rodrigues, also told Lusa that the mission supplement is “the only outstanding issue that deserves to be dealt with urgently”.
For his part, the president of the National Union of Police Officers and spokesman for the platform that brings together the structures of the PSP and GNR expressed reservations to Lusa about the presentation of a concrete proposal, taking into account that the notice does not include “any agenda”.
Bruno Pereira also criticized the government’s program for “not being clear” and “not concretizing” the attribution of a mission supplement to the police.
The government’s program, which is being debated in Parliament, states that a process to “dignify the careers” and “professionally and remuneratively enhance” 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 to members of the Judicial Police by the previous government, is the main demand of members of the PSP and GNR, who staged several protests in the first two months of the year.
