The Government of the Azores, through the office of the Regional Secretary for the Presidency, refutes the news, whose contents are entirely false, that have been disseminated about the negotiations leading to the amendment of the Agreement on Cooperation and Defence between Portugal and the USA, regarding the salary survey.
The agreement between Portugal and the United States of America, amending Article 4 of the Labour Agreement and Article 13 of the Labour Regulation of the Agreement on Cooperation and Defence between Portugal and the United States of America, signed on July 11, and the negotiations developed since November 2008 were started after an initiative of the Government of the Azores which actively and directly participated in them.
The conception and dissemination of information, without any consultation of parties with interests in the case and involved in the respective negotiation process, without a contradictory process, and with partial and selective use of information concerning this process, twists the information content, misrepresenting the truth of the facts and its perception by the public opinion, distorting the nature of journalism: report accurately.
The Government of the Azores is especially interest in the last result obtained in the aforementioned agreement and with what was achieved for the Portuguese workers at the Lajes Air Base.
The initiatives of the limited negotiation of the Lajes Air Base Agreement, as well as the definition of the conditions for this to happen were proposed by the Government of Azores. The consultation of documental sources and the contact with several entities involved in this process would have been sufficient to support these assertions.
The other parties involved, after the initiative of the Government of the Azores, have adhered to the proposal. The effective negotiation process began in November 2008 as the Government had repeatedly mentioned.
Thus, to better understand and evaluate the successive steps of this process, so that the truth may prevail, the Office of the Regional Secretary of the Presidency presents the following chronology of the events:
May 18, 2007 – 22nd Meeting of the Permanent Bilateral Commission, Washington
Given the irreducibility of the U.S. to implement the results of the salary surveys, as stipulated in the Agreement on Cooperation and Defence between Portugal and the U.S., the Region separately proposed for the first time, to the different partners under the Permanent Bilateral Commission, that an amendment to the mechanism of the salary survey, replacing it by another system, which is more specific, stable and beneficial for the Portuguese workers, should be considered.
At that time, the U.S. was concerned about a possible amendment of this type given the global implications that it could have the U.S. regarding their military presence abroad.
February 17, 2008 – Visit by Congressman Barney Frank to the Lajes Air Base, accompanied by the representative of the Autonomous Region of the Azores for the Agreement on Cooperation and Defence, André Bradford.
This visit, organised by the Government of the Azores on the occasion of the visit to the Region by a political and business delegation of the State of Massachusetts, allowed to inform Congressman Barney Frank, who led the delegation, about the non-application of the results of the salary survey and the funds due to the Portuguese workers at the Lajes Air Base. The congressman, who was already the President of the Committee of Financial Services of the House of Representatives, expressed his willingness to enter, on its own initiative, the funds due to the Portuguese workers in the Federal Budget for 2009, something which in fact happened, against the assessment of the U.S. Department of Defence.
The Government of the Azores worked with the Office of Congressman Barney Frank, from May to November 2008, in order to ensure that the funds remained in the Federal budget for 2009, and thus they could be paid the Portuguese workers this year, as long as there was an approval by the U.S. and Portugal of a new language on the mechanism for salary raises at the Lajes Air Base.
February 21, 2008 – 23rd Meeting of the Permanent Bilateral Commission, Lisbon
This meeting, which coincided with the beginning of the entry into office of the new U.S. Ambassador to Portugal, was almost exclusively addressed at the salary survey issue
From the U.S. point of view, it was further stated that, regarding the salary survey, Cooperation and Defence Agreement was fully respected by the U.S. authorities. In turn, the Region reassured that the U.S. were violating the letter and spirit of the Agreement on Cooperation and Defence on labour matters, and given the existing block, we proposed the limited renegotiation of some terms of the Labour Agreement and Labour Regulation, through the acceptance of some conditions which were explicitly defined in the proceedings of the meeting, namely:
- The approval by both delegations, under the CBP, of a specific mandate to replace the salary survey system by another stable and predictable method to determine the annual salary raises for the Portuguese workers of the Lajes Air Base, a method that could be accepted by the involved parties, regardless of the internal  limitations for the North American employer;
-The payment by the United States of the salaries due to the Portuguese workers in 2006 and 2007, when formal complaints were submitted by the workers, based on a breach of the Labour Agreement;
The commitment of the parties to consider the possibility of a limited renegotiation of the Agreement as proposed by the Region was the outcome of the meeting.
October 2008 - After meeting of the Labour Commission, the first informal versions are exchange between the Government of the Azores and the U.S. representatives on the negotiation possibilities of the articles regarding the salary survey process included in the Agreement on Cooperation and Defence.
Ñovember 21, 2008 – 24th meeting of the Permanent Bilateral Commission, Washington

The American party formally agrees to negotiate the language leading to the replacement of the salary survey, based on the assumptions stipulated by the Government of Azores. Subsequently, the negotiations at a technical level take place to revise the language of Article 4 of the Labour Agreement and Article 13 of the Labour Regulation of the Agreement on Cooperation and Defence between Portugal and the U.S. started.
 May 4, 2009 – 25th meeting of the Permanent Bilateral Commission, Lisbon

It is agreed between the Portuguese and U.S. delegations the language that modifies the system of salary raises for the Portuguese workers of the Lajes Base, thus eliminating the salary survey and replacing it by a system based on the logic of the highest raise in the public service of both countries. ~
11 July 2009, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lisbon
Signing of the agreement that amends the Labour Agreement and the Labour Regulation of the Agreement on Cooperation and Defence between Portugal and the United States of America.