At the end of the meeting with the Minister of Justice, Rita Alarcão Júdice, and where the Secretary of State for Public Administration, Marisa Garrido, was also present, the leader of the National Union of the Prison Guard Corps (SNCGP), Frederico Morais, expressed dissatisfaction with the proposal, even acknowledging that it "improved a bit" compared to the initial values, presented by the ministry at the first negotiation meeting.

The proposal, which increases the value of the supplement by 75 euros compared to the previous proposal, provides that it be 14% of the salary for commissioners, 12% for chiefs and 10% for guards, indexed to the base salary of the national director of the PSP.

"We made a point of telling the minister that we do not accept it. It is a negotiation round, we already have a meeting scheduled for the 27th. (...) They will analyze our proposal. We insisted again on 15% of index 115, that is, of the salary of the director of the Judiciary Police, for everyone, we demand that there be no separation of categories", said Frederico Morais to journalists.

The union leader said that the three structures received today - SNCGP, Union Association of Chiefs of the Prison Guard Corps (ASCCGP) and Independent Union of the Prison Guard Corps (SICGP) - presented a "well-founded proposal" justifying the professional risk and the values demanded by the guards, stating that the minister made no comments on the text, which she read and promised to analyze.

"In the last 15 days it has increased by 75 euros, let's see if now it can increase by 500. We will have to wait, we will be optimistic. (...) Today it was personally transmitted to her by me that the prison guard corps cannot take it much longer and the minister will have to solve the problems. Urgent and emergent was what the minister said, not us. The protests are on the table", warned Frederico Morais.

He stressed, however, that the unions' desire is to negotiate, not to enter into conflicts, expecting "goodwill from the Ministry of Justice and the Government to solve the problems".

"And then yes, if they do not solve it, it is in the hands of the prison guards" to decide on possible protests, said the union leader, who insisted on the situation of rupture in prisons and potential insecurity due to the lack of professionals, there currently being, according to the data he mentioned, a ratio of one guard to 4.8 prisoners and a deficit of more than a thousand guards in the system, with 3,885 prison guards in a universe that should be 5,000.

The next negotiation meeting at the Ministry of Justice is scheduled for May 27.

Leia Também: Governo aumenta proposta para guardas prisionais, mas não os convence (Portuguese version)