The unexpected announcement of elections for July has surprised Justice officials in full strike. When they heard the news, these professionals wondered if it was worth maintaining their protest with this new political landscape. The strike committee has met this week and has decided to continue with this indefinite strike to which 45,000 civil servants are called.
They understand, according to the president of CSIF Justicia, Javier Jordán de UrrÃes, that the call for elections cannot be an excuse for not listening to their demands now, since “the Executive is fully empowered by its powers.” So for this union “there is no legal impediment to negotiate an agreement with the union organizations that satisfies the remuneration demands of 93 percent of the Justice staff.” The strike committee estimates that the Government will not be in office until the day after the elections (July 24).
Officials, Jordán de UrrÃes announces, maintain their mobilizations and protests for the coming days and weeks. Without going any further, this Wednesday they demonstrated in front of the PSOE headquarters, in Ferraz, to summon Pedro Sánchez to intervene in the conflict. And on Thursday they protested again. This week they have also sent two letters –one to the president– and another to the second vice president and labor minister, Yolanda DÃaz, begging them to make a move and order the Ministry of Justice “to immediately begin negotiations with the representatives of the officials in the face of the lack of dialogue and negotiation demonstrated by Minister Pilar Llopâ€.
The Independent Union and Officials Central (CSIF) –majority union in Justice–, together with STAJ, CC.OO. and UGT, demand that Minister Pilar Llop “do not hide behind the electoral call to evade her responsibility with the 45,000 employees / as of Justice and the Spanish citizenship, which is the one that is suffering the effects of the strike”.
Javier Jordán de UrrÃes confirms that, since the specific strikes began and the indefinite strike began, “more than 700,000 trials have already been suspended and more than 40 million judicial proceedings have been paralyzed.”
The 45,000 Justice officials will continue with their mobilizations to demand a salary increase according to the functions they claim to perform on a daily basis. They ask for between 350 and 430 euros more per month, in line with what the lawyers of the administration of justice and the judges and prosecutors have achieved in recent weeks. This claim would imply, if accepted, a disbursement of almost 200 million euros.
The officials accuse the Ministry of Justice of being “class-orientedâ€, as they affirm that since the first protests began on April 17, officials from that department have only met twice with them. They compare that “silence” and “little interest” of the Government with their claims with the speed with which the agreement (47.6 million euros) was closed with judges and prosecutors to prevent them from going on indefinite strike.
Javier Jordán de UrrÃes is especially hurt by this lack of response from Justice to his claims. And he predicts, if there is no agreement, a huge collapse in some judicial offices, already heavily punished by the overload of work and delays. A silence that from the strike committee is considered “indecent.” On Thursday, a complaint was announced against Minister Llop before the Supreme Court Prosecutor’s Office for “violation of the fundamental right to freedom of association”
