The Spanish military had been hearing the excuse for a decade that the Defense budget, which was shrinking every year, did not allow them to increase their salaries, which had been frozen since the economic crisis. In 2021, the Government approved a modest increase that did not convince the uniformed. But then came the war in Ukraine and, above all, the subsequent commitment before NATO to raise military spending to 2�l GDP by 2029. And it is at this point that the professional associations saw the opportunity for the salaries of the 120,000 Spanish military personnel will be revised. However, for more than a year they have been seeing how – Tuesday after Tuesday – the Council of Ministers approves investments in armaments and none ends up in their pockets.
Base salaries are the big pending subject among members of the armed forces. The Association of Spanish Troops and Marines (Atme) describes them directly as “shame”. This year the base salary of a soldier is 696.13 euros, while his net salary – base plus supplements minus discounts – is around 1,130 euros per month during the first six years of service, depending on the unit which is intended.
The Atme, to denounce this situation, offers this newspaper payrolls in which you can check how a temporary corporal with 21 years of service receives 1,294 euros or how a soldier with reduced working hours, 18 years of service and a child under four years receives 1,091 euros; salaries at the beginning – and not so much – of a career that have nothing to do with the rest of the uniforms in Spain. And even less since in 2018 the Ministry of the Interior – already with Fernando Grande-Marlaska at the helm – launched one of its star measures to equalize the salaries of the National Police and the Civil Guard with the rest of the autonomous police.
Iñaki Unibaso, secretary general of the Unified Association of Spanish Military (Aume), explains to La Vanguardia that, although dialogue with the Ministry of Defense is open, they always “throw balls out” and aim at the Ministry of Finance, who has the key to the piggy bank. Unibaso assures that its association does not question all the material support that is being given to Ukraine, but a better remuneration is demanded. He says that in recent months he “always” gives the same example: a Leopard 2A4 tank – like the six that Spain has delivered to Kyiv – costs around 13 million euros, while the soldier who pilots it here in Spain is a Mileurista. The same goes for the lieutenant who can fly a Eurofighter after more than five years of specialization at the academy: his salary is close to 1,800 euros.
The Atme denounces that soldiers and sailors see “with astonishment and anger” how the minimum interprofessional salary – which is currently at 1,080 euros – “exceeds by far their base salaries and is close to their net salaries”. But with “an obvious” differentiating factor: the civilian worker is usually paid for overtime, night shifts or supplements for public holidays; the military does not. And this is where one of the serious problems among the workforce of the armed forces comes into play. The incessant drain of talent.
Unibaso remembers the mass exodus of pilots trained in the armed forces when private airlines were vying for them to put them at the helm of their commercial planes. This has decreased – in part – in recent years due to the delicate situation that aviation companies have gone through. However, there is a “brutal problem” with medical personnel who have had a military career. “They’re leaving”, insists the general secretary of the Aume, who calculates that a doctor – or a nurse – can earn twice as much in public health as in the armed forces thanks to the guards.
The Atme explains that they are detecting more and more cases of young people who, after wearing the military uniform – “and being aware of the precariousness of the job” – find time to start preparing their opposition to the Police National or the Civil Guard. “There is an increase in withdrawals from training centers – approximately 650 in 2021 – and a non-renewal of the initial commitment – 883 in 2021 -“, according to the figures handled by Atme. And all this, as they complain, despite the fact that the Ministry of Defense “presumes” that calls for troops and marines “are filled” every year. “What they forget to say are the casualties that have occurred once they have entered the centers”, they indicate.
The military associations promise to give battle in the next elections.
