The minimum wage in the Azores could rise to 861 euros next year due to the national increase, which António Costa’s government plans to raise to 820 euros.
In fact, the Minister for the Presidency confirmed that the government is negotiating with the social partners to raise the minimum wage to 820 euros in 2024, ten euros higher than what was set out in the agreement signed at the Social Dialogue a year ago.
“We all know that this is the direction in which the negotiations are going,” said Mariana Vieira da Silva, speaking to journalists after a meeting with the civil service unions. Today’s national minimum wage is 760 euros (798 euros in the Azores).
The income agreement concluded in the Social Dialogue provides for a rise to 810 euros in 2024, but in a recent interview, the Prime Minister showed his openness to going further, pointing out that the UGT’s proposal, for example, is for 830 euros.
Since then, the government has held several meetings with the social partners, and this morning Jornal de Negócios reported that negotiations are being held with a rise of 820 euros in mind.
So far, however, this figure has not been openly assumed by any member of the Executive. However, Mariana Vieira da Silva confirmed it on Friday. “Two years ago, we had about one euro more in the Civil Service pay base than in the minimum wage. At the moment, we still have a difference of that size,” explained the Minister for the Presidency.
When questioned, she acknowledged that the negotiations in the Social Dialogue were still ongoing but admitted that the calculations she had made for the State’s pay base “were based on 820 euros, which is what is known at the moment” for the minimum wage.


In the Civil Service, the pay base will rise next year to around 821 euros, 52 euros above the current figure. If today, the State’s pay base has a difference of more than nine euros compared to the national minimum wage, in 2024, that gap will be just one euro. For this reason, José Abraão, from the Federation of Public Administration Trade Unions (FESAP), called on the government to leave the public administration’s salary base exempt from personal income tax in 2024. 2024, but Mariana Vieira da Silva didn’t give any details on this, not least because the State Budget is only a few days away.

Civil servants with an average increase of 3.8% in 2024

The meeting served as an opportunity for Mariana Vieira da Silva to indicate to the civil service unions that the government really wants to increase salaries up to 1,807 euros by 52 euros and to announce that for employees above that amount, the increase will be 3%, not 2%, as initially indicated.
In other words, in January, she stressed that civil servants will see pay rises of between 3% and 6.84%, corresponding to an average increase of 3.8%. “What we’re trying to guarantee is a path of salary progression that can be sustainable, and that allows us to recover from the inflationary peak,” she stressed.
When asked about the Executive’s decision to increase the higher salaries but not, the lower ones, Mariana Vieira da Silva said that if there is one area where there has been “a very significant increase,” it is in the salary base. On the other hand, she made it clear that it is necessary to continue to decompress the single pay scale, which is why she took this decision.
According to the Minister for the Presidency, in 2024, the Public Administration’s wage bill will grow by 5.1%, above the benchmark established in the Social Dialogue for the evolution of private salaries, which may, however, still be revised.
Mariana Vieira da Silva also took the opportunity to stress that the government has not only complied with the multi-annual agreement signed with FESAP and the State Technical Staff Union (STE) but has also gone further. Even so, the unions are demanding more robust pay rises.

For this reason, the government will once again sit down at the table with the civil service unions, but only after the 2024 State Budget proposal has been submitted to Parliament, which will be next Tuesday, October 10. Finally, it is essential to note that the Minister for the Presidency has not shown any openness to increasing the meal allowance, contrary to the unions’ proposals. “We have no plans to update the allowance in any way,” she said.

in Diário dos Açores, Osvaldo Cabral,-director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno.

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