Swords remain high between the lawyers of the administration of justice (formerly judicial secretaries) and the Ministry of Justice. Almost two months after the start of this indefinite strike, the attitudes towards finding a solution to this unprecedented conflict are still far apart.
And, every day that passes, the bill charged to citizens for this shutdown increases. The figures provided by lawyers are extremely worrying. There are already close to 400,000 pending claims for distribution and suspended trials and hearings are close to 330,000. To this must be added the nearly 1.5 million euros blocked in the accounts of the courts and which should be in the pockets of the citizens.
These are the figures given in real time, but the court clerks, who say they are “shocked and surprised” by the response that Justice is giving to this strike, predict that it will take “at least 12 to 16 months until to restore normality in the judicial offices”.
The lawyers warn that returning to the situation before the start of the strike “will cost more money than what they are now asking for, as shock plans will have to be applied”.
The judicial secretaries insist that they only ask that “the agreement agreed with the central government of April 2022” be fulfilled. The Ministry of Justice committed then, they recall again, “to link the remuneration of lawyers to that of judges and prosecutors and propose an increase of at least 75%”. The salary of judicial lawyers – they specify – is 83% of that of judges and prosecutors, but their supplements, on which the remuneration mostly depends, barely exceed 50%.
It was also agreed to “reduce the population groups to benefit the colleagues who were in the towns where the least was paid (third category in towns)”. The lawyers assure that they “do not remember” any other conflict in which “it is necessary to call a strike in order to comply with what has already been agreed”.
At what point are the negotiations now? According to these professionals, Justice does not move a single comma from its initial proposal. The Central Government offers “an increase of less than 50% of the promised to 30% of the workforce; an increase of 120 euros per year for 13% of the workforce, and zero salary adjustment for 67% of the workforce”. Therefore, criticize the organizers of the strike, “despite the fact that all lawyers have assumed the same powers, 67% have to work for free”.
The lawyers directly accuse the Executive of “intoxicating the Spanish population with falsehoods, with the sole purpose of turning the citizens against us”. And they list some, for them, falsehoods. “It is flatly false that our salary has been raised by 15% and that they are one of the bodies that have had the most salary increases”. And they add that “the only increase exclusive to the secretaries was the one agreed by the ministry and unions on November 15, which amounted to 195 euros per month, which represents an increase of 4 to 6% of our remuneration” . They also qualify as falsehood “that they request a linear salary increase of 1,100 euros”. They assure that with a “much lower amount the conflict could be closed”.
The distance between the two sides was again evident on Thursday. The Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop, assured that the judicial lawyers must explain why they are on strike and maintain “maximalist positions”, since their salary will be increased by almost 15%. “Everyone has the right to take collective action if they feel their working conditions are not suitable, but they may have to explain what is not suitable about a 14.76% wage increase”, Llop concluded in a congressional committee.
