Demonstration by the military associations Asfaspro, ATME and UMT for a career and a “dignified” salary on 25 June in Madrid JJGuillen (EFE)
The increase in the defense budget to reach 2% of GDP in 2029 is intended not only to buy new weapon systems, but also to improve military remuneration. This emerges from the draft report of the specialist commission for the remuneration of armed forces personnel, which has been dealing with the matter for a year and a half. The more than 150-page document, to which EL PAÍS had access, acknowledges the need to undertake a general review of the pay of the 120,000 active-duty military personnel and, in particular, a “detailed review” of their jobs in order to tailor pay features to their “particular requirements of the Responsibility, technical preparation, dangerousness and hardness”.
The under-remuneration of the 120,000 members of the armed forces was recognized by the Congressional Defense Commission back in 2018, and their gap with other uniformed bodies such as the Guardia Civil and the National Police Corps has worsened in recent years, as members of the state security forces face a strong Increase for homologation with the state police have benefited.
In the draft conclusions of the Technical Commission constituted in January 2021 (to be approved in the coming weeks by the Armed Forces Staff Council, an advisory body of the Ministry of Defence), this adds the possibility of establishing a structural part of the special dedication that would be given to all receiving employees for recognize their constant readiness to serve”. In other words, it would involve ensuring the availability of the military garrisoning a target (more than 90% of the total) at any time (24 hours a day, 365 days a year) due to a storm, pandemic or war conflict, beyond the 40-hour weekly shift set by the applicable regulations. At the same time, she proposes to “clarify the allocation criteria in order to improve maximum objectivity in the distribution of this supplement”, the distribution of which, according to those responsible for defense, corresponds to the “discretion” of the command or its “arbitrariness”. , according to the associations.
Likewise, the report advocates regulating the remuneration to which the military is entitled to participate in navigation, maneuvers and exercises. Although no criteria are set, the draft warns that its level must be somewhere between the alimony they receive on national territory and the minimum amount of compensation on international missions.
The professional organizations took part in the work of the commission, which also included the representatives of the armies, but most of their proposals were not adopted because those responsible for the Ministry of Defense, who have a majority there, admitted only those who “technically cause no problems”. The result is “disappointing” for the associations, which complain that the report does not contain any concrete amounts of the necessary salary increases, not even indicative.
For Asfaspro (professional association of non-commissioned officers of the armed forces) “the absence in the conclusions is surprising [del informe] of the main problem: how poorly paid military personnel are and the inevitable need for increases in military salaries”. The ATME (Spanish Troop and Marine Association) said it was “completely disappointed” by the technical commission’s conclusions, which do not address the “disgraceful salaries” of military personnel and soldiers (with a net salary of 1,076 euros per month) rule out the future increase in the planned ones Employment Supplement for Sergeants and Lieutenants. The Troop Military Union (UMT) also expressed “disappointment” at a report that contained only “recommendations” and no guidelines, and demoted soldiers and sailors to non-commissioned officers. For its part, the Unified Association of Spanish Military (AUME) has asked Minister Margarita Robles to sit down with the associations to discuss the increase in remuneration given the disappearance of the main obstacle put forward so far in order not to raise them: the lack of budget.
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Hundreds of soldiers demonstrated in central Madrid on June 25 for the second time in eight months for the “appreciation” of their salaries, called by professional associations. But the mobilization hasn’t hurt Robles, who told La Razón newspaper that “the vast majority of the armed forces’ 120,000 men and women don’t go to demonstrations.”
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