The Government’s announcement of a 10% increase in the salaries of civil servants between 2025 and 2028 has opened an intense conflict with the main trade unions. Although the Executive considers the proposal to be balanced and compatible with the spending ceiling, CCOO, UGT and CSIF maintain that the plan falls far short of compensating the loss of purchasing power accumulated over more than a decade.
Negotiations continue, but the tension is evident. If there are no changes in the offer, the unions have already warned that they do not rule out mobilizations and even a general strike in December.
Below are the salaries and the arguments put forward by the parties.
10% increase, but limited to 4% in 2025 and 2026
The Government proposes a 10% increase in public salaries over four years, although with a key limitation: in 2025 and 2026 the increase cannot exceed 4% in order not to exceed the spending ceiling. The remaining 6% would be distributed in 2027 and 2028.
The unions see this distribution as a way of delaying the largest increases and point out that, if inflation picks up, this 10% will not make it possible to recover the accumulated wage loss. In fact, the organizations recall that in recent years prices have grown much higher than public wages.
Union representatives stress that “this 10% does not sufficiently compensate for the inflation accumulated over the last few years” and fear that the wage deterioration will continue to widen.
How civil servants’ salaries will look in 2028
If the plan is approved, in 2028 salaries – adding base salary and destination allowance, but not counting triennials or specific allowances – would be between 28,000 and 36,000 euros per year, depending on the professional group.
- Subgroup A1 employees would exceed €36,000 per year, which would be about €3,000 more than in 2025.
- In subgroup A2, the salary would rise from €30,747 in 2025 to €33,822 in 2028.
- In group B, the increase would be just under €3,000 per year, from €29,123 in 2025 to €32,035 in 2028.
- C1 officials would increase from 27,237 euros to around 29,961 euros.
- At C2, the salary would rise from €25,488 to approximately €28,037 in 2028.
The increase, therefore, would range between 2,500 and 3,000 euros per year at the end of the period, although for the unions it is still insufficient in view of the inflation accumulated since 2010.
Union reactions: outright rejection and strike warnings
The proposal has been met with a resounding refusal. CCOO, UGT and CSIF agree that the offer is insufficient and demand an immediate review.
CSIF, although with a more moderate tone, warns that “the first two years of the agreement would mean a loss for the purchasing power of public employees”. They also recall that “since 2022, the date of the previous agreement, salaries have been devalued by 8%” and that “since 2010, when the salary drop occurred with the cuts of that year, the loss rises to almost 20%.”
CCOO has been the hardest and has described the proposal as an “insult”. The union warns that it will resume the call for a general strike in December “if there is no fair economic proposal”.
UGT does not support it either. The organization affirms that “we are not here to lose opportunities or to lose money”, although for the time being it has not made any statement on possible mobilizations.
