The Ministry of Digital Transformation and Public Function, which Óscar López heads, told the unions CSIF, CCOO and UGT on Tuesday, 20 October 2026, that public employees' salaries will rise 4.5% from 1 January 2027. The three unions reported the assurance after meeting in the follow-up commission for the framework agreement signed in November 2025. That deal covers more than three million public employees and sets an overall rise of 11% for 2025 to 2028. The ministry committed to the percentage but gave no approval date, so it has not said whether the measure will pass before or after the general election on 29 November. Union sources say the ministry intends to have the rise approved before the vote, but nothing has been put in writing and the Council of Ministers that will take the decision has not been named.
The framework deal splits the 11% into fixed rises of 2.5% for 2025, 1.5% for 2026, 4.5% for 2027 and 2% for 2028.
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A variable 0.5% for 2026 applies if year-end inflation equals or exceeds the 1.5% fixed rise. Reporting cites September inflation at 4.9% and a 2026 annual average near 3.5%, so the extra half point is expected to be paid in the first quarter of 2027 with retroactive effect, once the INE confirms December's consumer price index in mid-January. Isabel Araque, general secretary of UGT Servicios Públicos, said Congress approved the 2025 rise without difficulty, even though its retroactive nature made it more complex.
The unions want the 4.5% rise approved before the last Council of Ministers meeting before the vote, which they date to 24 November. Araque said the agreement is closed on all points, with some items still open.
“The agreement has been closed and agreed on all its points since November 2025.”
UGT set out its demand in a statement.
“That approval must take place before 24 November, the date of the last Council of Ministers meeting before the general elections on the 29th.”
Among the open items, UGT pointed to a review of the residence and insularity supplements. In June the parties agreed to update compensation linked to those supplements for about 11,200 General State Administration staff in the Balearic Islands, and compensation for Ceuta, Melilla, Canarias and the Valle de Arán was to be specified before December. CCOO said the other measures in the framework deal must not be stalled or postponed, including changes to the replacement rate model and to the compensation for residence and service.
Union sources say the ministry, working with the autonomous communities, is preparing a legislative reform of article 10 of the Basic Statute of Public Employees to define abuse of temporary employment. The planned sanctions include removing managers in administrations that fail to comply. The government is described as caretaker (en funciones) while the campaign runs. On the same day a second monitoring commission, on reducing temporality, also met to address interim staff, a problem for which Spain has repeatedly been criticised from Europe.
The sources name four dates: the framework pact signed in November 2025, the unions' 24 November deadline, the 29 November general election, and the 1 January 2027 start of the rise.
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On Tuesday, 20 October 2026, the ministry told CSIF, CCOO and UGT that salaries will rise 4.5% from 1 January 2027, but it gave no date for approving the measure before the 29 November general election.
AI text based on reports by LaVanguardia, EL MUNDO, EL PAÍS and other publishers. Published .