The associations of judges and prosecutors hope to reach an agreement with the Ministry of Justice before May 16, so as not to go on strike. Yesterday they met with representatives of the department led by Pilar Llop – a meeting that started at eleven in the morning and ended, with a break for lunch, at eight in the evening – and at the exit they did not hide their “optimism”, although with great suspicion, due to the result of this first contact. Justice would have offered an item of 44 million euros that would not cover the 20% of the loss of purchasing power that the professional associations point to since 2004, although this is a first proposal that will have the counteroffer of the social part
Juan José Carbonero, from the Professional Association of the Magistrature, stated that “now is the time for study and assessment of what has been put on the table”. Carbonero insisted that the best news now “is that a process of negotiation and dialogue has begun, something we have been calling for for many years”. The magistrate remarked that it is still too early to talk about “satisfaction” and entrusts everything to the second meeting on Monday.
Inés Herrero, from the Progressive Association of Prosecutors, was more optimistic. “The day was productive and we were all able to raise our points of view”, he said. Herrero does believe that “there will be an agreement before May 16”.
The Ministry of Justice spends its lowest hours because of this revolt of protests. After the strike by court clerks and civil servants, the threat of a stoppage by judges and prosecutors and the protest by professional lawyers, the forensic technical teams of the courts are now added to those claims. Educators, social workers and psychologists from the Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences are also asking for labor regulation in accordance with their responsibilities. On April 20, they sent a letter to the ministry requesting a meeting. Since they did not get an answer, they threatened partial stoppages, without ruling out an indefinite strike.
Meanwhile, the officials of the administration of justice will demonstrate again today and will redouble the pressure with full-day strikes on the 4th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 16th, 17th and 18th of May in the face of the silence of Justice.
The only ones who have achieved, for now, their goals are the lawyers of the administration of justice (court clerks), after a strike that lasted almost three months and aggravated the endemic collapse already suffered by judicial offices
