According to the CCOO union, Balearic public employee salaries have risen between 3,200 and 11,000 euros over the past 15 years, depending on category and seniority.
Alfredo Gutiérrez of the CCOO points out that salaries have gone up by 18.65% if all increases since 2009 are added up. 2009 is taken as a reference because it was the year before the salary cut that was imposed due to the financial crisis. In 2010, the salaries of public workers were reduced by 5%; it was the first time that such a drastic measure had been taken.
Gutiérrez gives some examples. A Balearic government administrative worker earned 22,000 euros gross per year in 2009. On average this is now a little over 26,100 euros.
The salary of a cleaner working for the government has gone up from 17,500 to around 20,760. A department head with more than 20 years' service has gone from earning 59,000 euros to more than 70,000 euros gross in 2024. Although the examples are for government employees, Gutiérrez says that data can be extrapolated and applied to public employees with various administrations.
Despite these salary improvements, achieved with the "effort of the unions" (as Gutiérrez stresses), there has been significant loss of purchasing power. Over the 15-year period, the Consumer Price Index has increased by 35.8%, almost double the increase in salaries.
"We are far from recovering the purchasing power. This is why the CCOO, the union with the greatest representation in public administrations, will be negotiating measures with the Spanish government to alleviate this loss."