The expectations of the security forces for the first negotiation meeting with the Minister of Internal Affairs, Margarida Blasco, were 'punctured'. Both the president of the National Union of Police Officers, Bruno Pereira, as well as the president of the Association of Guard Professionals (APG), César Nogueira, and the president of the National Association of Guard Sergeants, Ricardo Pires, expressed their displeasure with the proposal of the guardianship for the increase in the mission supplement, having even considered that the new representative is "unprepared for the position she holds".

"We feel extremely wronged with this kick-off. It is a proposal that does not even have the dignity to be a proposal considering the weeks and months of discussion around a question of reparation of dignity - of a value that was graduated for certain police officers and not for us", lamented Bruno Pereira, in statements to the press, after the meeting.

The president of the union that represents the majority of the commanders and directors of the Public Security Police (PSP) went further, having said that "a proposal for a 75-euro appreciation that would not even be used by all professionals [...] is worse than the previous Government when it attributed the risk subsidy".

"I felt great sadness in being received with this. As I said, I want to believe and I reaffirm, that it was totally an idea, or a shot completely off target", he reinforced, adding that he hopes that the minister and her team have understood "the real dimension of injustice that was proposed".

In turn, César Nogueira classified the Government's first proposal as "very bad", confessing that he was "shaken" and that it will be "very difficult to contain the indignation of the professionals".

"The Government's proposal divides into professional categories: guards, officers and sergeants. Just by that it is already a mistake because the risk is the same for all. The risk cannot be divided by categories. We were not pleased with this proposal. 7, 9 and 12%. In some cases it gives a value inferior to what is earned by each professional", he said.

The president of the most representative association of the GNR even considered that the minister "is unprepared for the position she holds".

Ricardo Pires shared a similar feeling, having noticed that, in his view, the value of this first proposal was "clearly insufficient", being "unacceptable".

"In some cases it does not reach an increase of 75 euros", he said, referring as an example the case of a soldier in the guard post who currently earns a supplement for service and risk in the security forces of 285 euros and who will now earn a mission supplement of 365 euros.

In this line, the official added that GNR soldiers feel "distressed and mistreated".

Both Bruno Pereira and César Nogueira assured, however, that they will present counterproposals at the next meeting, which is scheduled for May 15.

What are the values of the Government's proposal?

It should be noted that, in the first negotiation round, Margarida Blasco proposed a mission supplement for the elements of the PSP and the GNR between 365.13 and 625.94 euros, which will replace the current supplement for service and risk in the security forces.

With this new mission supplement, which has as a reference the base salary of the national director of the PSP, there are police officers who will have a salary inferior to what they currently earn, according to the unions.

According to the proposal presented by the Government to the PSP unions, the officers would now have a mission supplement of 12% of the base salary of the national director of the PSP, which is 5,216.23 euros, while the percentage for the chiefs is 9% and for the agents 7%.

The current supplement for service and risk in the security forces that the elements of the PSP and GNR receive has a variable component that corresponds to 20% of the base salary and a fixed component of 100 euros.

The police officers demand a mission supplement identical to what the previous socialist Government attributed to the Judicial Police, which in some cases was an increase of 700 euros.

Read Also: Below the request. What does the MAI propose for subsidies in the GNR? (Portuguese version)