The tax inspectors’ union will join the civil service strike scheduled for Friday, October 24, as it considers that the State Budget for 2026 does not recover purchasing power, nor does it respond to the problems of tax workers.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the Union Association of Tax and Customs Inspection Professionals (APIT) announces that inspectors “join the strike” next Thursday.
“The OE2026 proposal [Orçamento do Estado para 2026] continues to fail to promote any effective recovery of purchasing power, continues to fail to truly promote any improvement in the living and working conditions of Public Administration workers in general, and AT in particular, and ignores the numerous warnings for the disregard of criminal, tax and customs inspection and investigation work”, explains the trade union association.
The association argues that the Government and the management of the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) are leaving tax workers in a “situation of deep discontent and profound demotivation”.
The OE proposal, he maintains, “does not present decisions, proposals or a course clearly designed to improve the present and future of AT workers” and there is no timetable for “any negotiation process” with APIT to “discuss and approve” decisions designed to dignify workers.
The strike on October 24, called by the National Federation of Workers’ Unions in Public and Social Functions, lasts between 00:00 and 24:00, to demand salary increases, the enhancement of careers, the defense of public services and the revocation of the Integrated System for Management and Performance Assessment in Public Administration (SIADAP).
In the case of APIT, there are six matters to which the union association demands attention.
The union states that the remuneration table “remains inadequate”, even after the “changes promoted by the Government this year, and which again fail to correct the injustices that AT workers face”.
At the same time, he says, SIADAP “has nothing motivating, transparent or fair”, following a model that “purposefully ignores the way in which AT workers carry out their duties”.
At the same time, the association claims that AT’s human resources are “’stretched’ to the limit of their capacity”, making it difficult to combat the parallel economy.
Fourthly, APIT denounces that workers are “forced to ‘pay to work’” due to the low compensation paid when they place “their personal vehicles at the service of the State” to carry out inspection work.
The association also disputes the fact that inspectors are “the only inspection that does not recognize the inspection complement or risk subsidy, or even the mission subsidy for those that are recognized as a Criminal Police Body (OPC)”.
Finally, APIT considers the renewal of tax professionals to be ineffective, because “workers with high knowledge and experience are leaving without even having had the opportunity to share them with new workers”.
The reduction of personnel at AT was recently recognized by the director general of the tax authorities as a condition of work. At a conference at the Ministry of Finance on September 23, Helena Borges said that AT has “14% less resources” than “ten years ago – there are 1,400 fewer people”, which forces the institution to have its priorities “well defined”.
In addition to APIT, the Tax Workers Union (STI), the most representative among tax professionals, supports the demands that led to the call for the strike.
“Although the STI did not present prior notice of strike, all public administration workers are covered by it”, recalls the union structure, in an ’email’ sent to members on October 15th, to which Lusa had access.