Daniel Viaña Madrid

Madrid

Updated Tuesday, March 19, 2024-01:40

José Luis Escrivá wants to "

bring civil servants closer" to the situation that, in terms of retirement

, exists in the private sector.

For this reason, the Minister of Public Function is going to accelerate "in the coming months" the negotiations with the unions so that public workers have the option of partial, early and also delayed retirement, that is, working beyond the age withdrawal legal.

"Surely we are going to agree on a more flexible frame of reference and with more opportunities to decide how one exits the labor market, also for civil servants," and that they "get

closer to the situation that workers have in the field of employment." private sector

», he stated yesterday after speaking at an event on virtual reality organized by the National Cybersecurity Institute of Spain (Incibe) in Albacete.

He added that he has "no doubt" that these points will be agreed upon "this year," according to EFE.

That is, it is something imminent.

The Ministry of Public Function itself confirms that the modifications to pensions will be addressed in the usual frameworks of social dialogue for public employees.

And among the unions, sources from both the UGT and the Independent Trade Union and Civil Servants Central (CSIF) point out that they currently have no evidence of Escrivá's desire to address this point immediately, but they do point out that it is vital to develop both early retirement like the delayed one.

For the first, CSIF gives as an example situations such as those that occur among some health personnel and proposes applying reducing coefficients, that is, reducing a percentage of the benefit depending on how early they leave the labor market.

Regarding delayed retirement, this same union exposes situations such as those of certain officials of the General State Administration (AGE) who, enjoying a good state of health, can remain active voluntarily.

In this way

, these public workers continue to provide their experience

and knowledge to the Administration, helping it to function better, while increasing the benefits they will enjoy when they finally retire.

However, CSIF emphasizes that there are still no dates to address all of this, and that there are also no dates to negotiate the

next salary agreement or this year's public employment offer

, which will once again be historically high.

This point is of particular concern in the union sphere, since they maintain that public workforces are very tight and that it is vital to eliminate the replacement rate, something that Escrivá has also promised to apply already in 2025. And they also emphasize that the electoral advance In Catalonia, with the consequent resignation of the Government to carry out the General State Budget for 2024, it has disrupted the processes.

What

is closed, as this newspaper already published, is the salary increase

corresponding to 2024. Initially, the 2% improvement was included in the Budget bill, but PSOE and Sumar decided to change this point and include the increase in the anti-crisis decree.

When they did so, the blockade had not yet occurred in Catalonia and the Government maintained that it would carry out the 2024 accounts, but the Executive partners made this decision, at least officially, to advance the salary improvement over time.

The aforementioned decree will be approved, according to parliamentary sources, after Easter and, more specifically, during the second week of April.

From that moment on, civil servants will be able to begin receiving the 2% increase with retroactive effect to January 1, 2024. Before, probably already in the next payroll, public workers will receive the 0.5% from 2023, which It was confirmed last February after knowing the final National Accounting data for last year.

And they will still be able to see their salary increased by another 0.5%, adding a total of 9.5% in three years.