The Council of the Government, which met in Ponta Delgada on February 2, 2023, approved the following measures:
1 – Approve the Resolution establishing the Salary Increase Support Mechanism – “MAIS,” which aims to encourage and support the increase in the base salary of salaried workers in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, through the granting of financial support for salary increases.
As there has been an increase in the minimum salary, it is essential to create a measure to offset this increase and stimulate an increase in the base salary of salaried workers in the Autonomous Region of the Azores by granting the following financial support:
• Support for the Increase of the Average Salary;
• Support for the Increase of the Minimum Monthly Wage in the Autonomous Region of the Azores.
“MAIS” is aimed at private employers, including those in the social sector, with headquarters or permanent establishment in the Autonomous Region of the Azores.
The financial support for the Average Salary Increase is set at €174.00 per full-time worker, whenever it is verified that companies report, as of January 2023, an increase in the average salary of the company’s workers equal to or higher than 5.8% compared to the average salary in December 2022.
The financial support for the increase of the Monthly Minimum Wage in the Autonomous Region of the Azores is set at €174.00 per full-time worker, whenever it is verified, according to the salary statement for December 2022, that the worker received a base salary lower than the Monthly Minimum Salary in the Autonomous Region of the Azores for 2023.
2 – Approve the Draft Regional Legislative Decree approving the Teaching Career Statute in Preschool, Basic and Secondary Education in the Autonomous Region of the Azores.
The Programme of the XIII Government defends the urgency in promoting the attractiveness and dignity of teaching, as decisive factors in attracting and maintaining better-qualified professionals. This is essential to the enhancement of educational success and, consequently, to the importance of Education as an element of social advancement.
Alongside the creation of incentives for teaching degree programmes, based on the granting of scholarships and financial incentives for the pursuit of teaching master’s degrees in the Region, it is important to focus on the increase in the qualification of teaching internships and the granting of autonomy in the first year of the teaching career. This will not only afford greater social recognition to young teachers but also ensure the quality of teaching in regional schools.
Special emphasis should also be given to the improvement of teaching conditions as a decisive factor to reduce the stress associated with the teaching profession in a society that is increasingly plural and demanding. This will ensure equal treatment among teachers at different education levels as well as between them and Public Administration workers, a goal of utmost importance in terms of labour and social justice.
Mechanisms are also introduced to restore the length of service of teachers working in the Region who, following the application of Regional Legislative Decree no. 26/2008/A of July 24 and Regional Legislative Decree no. 15/2019/A of July 6, 2019, have a longer total career than that applicable to new teachers.
As such, the teaching career in the Autonomous Region of the Azores is the most attractive in the national territory without the imposition of quotas and with the consideration of the full length of service for progression purposes, based on the principles of equity in its structure.
3 – Approve the Resolution extending to 2023 the “Birth Plus” programme, which allocates non-refundable financial support to meet the need of promoting the well-being and health of Azorean children from the very first moment. It intends to counter the low birth rates and depopulation trend in the 12 municipalities of the Region that registered a population decline above 5% between 2011 and 2021 (Povoação, Vila Franca do Campo, Nordeste, Praia da Vitória, Santa Cruz da Graciosa, Calheta, Velas, Lajes do Pico, São Roque do Pico, Lajes das Flores, Santa Cruz das Flores and Corvo).
As part of its programme, the Regional Government has made the commitment to create measures aimed at increasing the birth rate to combat demographic erosion and stimulate the increase in the birth rate, making these matters a priority in the context of regional public policies.
The “Birth Plus” programme has a budget of 1,500,000.00 Euros (one million, five hundred thousand Euros).
GRA/RÁDIOILHÉU
