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“I think the lady is protesting too much.”
William Shakespeare (Hamlet, Act III, Dinner 2).
Amid all these badly combined disagreements about the state of the security forces, (This is explained in the first part of this article) It would be prudent and wise to reflect on the following points:
Risk is part of a set of occupations that are more or less severe among themselves – and it is not easy to “grade” this difference; Every citizen chooses his or her occupation freely, and it is assumed that everyone is aware of the associated risks and difficulties; When evaluating an occupation, other factors besides risk come into play, such as the degree and complexity of the skills required and their relevance to society; The “law” of supply and demand – which the state must regulate as much as possible – is exogenous to the former component, but it still affects it; Many “civilian” occupations that have nothing to do with security forces may also involve risks and dangers; firefighters, because they respond to natural disasters; “almeidas” because they deal with garbage; hospital managers because they care about patients; prison guards (who also want to be seen as security forces), because they deal with dangerous people, etc.
In the midst of all this there remains a poor relative whose name is the armed forces (if there is anything left, it must soon explode), whose salary has long been in line with that of the security forces and who no longer naturally and in most cases does not pose risk problems.
In general, the issue of risk – as an allowance – appears in a different way, since there is no risk allowance for all military personnel (this is included in the “Military Conditions” supplement), only risk allowance for personnel navigators (Air Force); submariners and divers, navy and paratroopers, and personnel who dismantle explosive devices in the Army. However, this allowance is related to the fact that risk is not punctual, but permanent, and inherent pain/wear issues.
Now, from all considerations, it may or should be concluded that it is wage-based—the basis of which is that the true value of the remuneration for the role performed must be, and that allowances of all kinds must be reduced to a minimum, and are in many cases the exception rather than the rule.
Moreover, there are cases where authorized (!) persons perform “work” outside of working hours and receive a salary, just like members of the security forces who perform “free service”; and military personnel who work in a civilian capacity outside their branch (which is not allowed in the PJ, and also not allowed in the FA). This distorts everything.
Here we come to the core and root of the problem.
On April 24, 1974, the Portuguese government actively intervened in social harmony without exceeding its functions, especially at the level of state employees. Please note that I used the term “server”, a concept that was quickly exhausted.
The entire civil service was stratified and grouped into groups and assigned a letter. This stratification also constituted a hierarchy of occupations and similar functions corresponding to a certain salary.
In addition to this, there is a series of professions that constitute a kind of “pillar” of the same state, namely: the judiciary; the Governor’s Office; diplomacy and the presidency. And all this, unified from top to bottom, constitutes a reference for everyone. Outside the state, in the so-called civil society, jobs and professions are not obliged to follow all this “logic”, but they certainly have it as a reference.
Furthermore, strikes and “work stoppages” are prohibited, as labor conflicts are expected to be mediated through dialogue between trade unions, which bring together businessmen, so to speak, and the National Union, which brings together workers, with social assistance provided by the Casas do Povo, Casas de Pescadores, Misericórdias, the Social Security Fund, among others.
This practice was so entrenched that it indirectly contributed to the coup that took place between April 24-26, 1974 (I bet they won’t mention any of this in the announced celebrations…).
I would like to mention the fact that when the number of competitors for higher military schools began to decrease, during the military operations that took place between 1961 and 1974/5, it was necessary to significantly increase the amount paid (within the logic of supply and demand) to find candidates for permanent staff posts, which were in short supply, and this, I believe, was done so as not to disrupt the incoherence of the entire existing building and structure.
Other different routes were tried, but late and ill-timed, culminating in Decree 373/74 in July, with its (poorly understood) consequences. It is no coincidence that the entire sergeant class was not involved in the preparations for the coup: Professor Marcelo Caetano’s government had reviewed wages and professional conditions in 1969.
Now, as has been said, from April 26th everything started to fall apart, those who had and those who didn’t were spent, and wage increases and working conditions began to be achieved by shouting in the middle of the street. The group that shouted louder or broke things began to win more. When social life calmed down a little and the 76 constitution was in full swing, after 1982 everything was basically back to the way it was.
No one anymore wanted, managed or tried to reconcile a fair relationship between work, capital and wages and the value of the work performed, let alone trying to reward merit and punish incompetence, carelessness and laziness. Everything was promoted or directed by the “socialist” laws conveyed by the Constitution of the Republic. Thus, the “class struggle”, the abuse of strike laws, as well as conflicts and relative injustices, were permanently revived.
There is no apparent agreement on social consultation, and successive governments have failed to adequately deal with all issues relating to the uniform and have thrown those responsibilities aside by stripping respective commanders of their ability to deal with personnel issues. Organisations such as unions and associations now seem to have no control over their members. As problems continue to mount, we are all going to be very unhappy, even more unhappy than before.
Everything is organized according to structures and legislation, completely forgetting the actual conditions (and reactions) of human nature.
Until all of this can be coordinated to a minimum, social unrest will not cease and discontent will spread generally. An insurgency is underway and it does not appear to be confined to the security forces. When this happens, it remains to be seen who will command the “forces of order”…(1)
Nothing learned.
(1) It goes without saying that in Portugal authority has been practically destroyed (without authority, nothing can be done) and we are losing respect for everything and everyone.
pilot pilot // author uses the old spelling
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