It was an announcement, threat or warning that has now become a reality. This morning all the associations of prosecutors and judges (except the progressive ones) have announced the start of an indefinite strike starting on May 16.
A strike, if the Ministry of Justice does not remedy it beforehand, which will coincide with the municipal and regional election campaign. And also, if there is no agreement before, with the indefinite strike of Justice officials.
The thunder box in that ministry directed by MarÃa Pilar Llop was opened by the lawyers of the administration of justice (former court clerks) at the end of last year with a strike that lasted three months. It all ended when Justice accepted a large part of the claims of these lawyers, with a salary increase of 450 euros per month.
The agreement that seemed to put an end to the collapse generated by the protest of these secretaries, with tens of thousands of trials suspended, has not had the effects expected by the Government in this case.
And it is that both judges and prosecutors and Justice officials took very little time to threaten strikes to also get salary increases, such as those approved for court clerks
The announcement this morning of the indefinite strike starting next May 16 bears the signature of the Professional Association of the Magistracy, the Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association, the Independent Judicial Forum, the Association of Prosecutors and the Professional and Independent Association of Prosecutors in a joint statement.
At the moment, the Association Judges and Judges for Democracy and the Progressive Union of Prosecutors have not joined the call, although they share the diagnosis and the claims, because they want to wait to know the approach of the Ministry of Finance at the meeting of the Table scheduled for May 3.
Judges and prosecutors affirm that they are very concerned about the lack of endowment in the administration of Justice, which they consider “a Cinderella”. They also protest the workloads in the prosecutor’s offices and courts, which they point to as the main cause of the speed and quality of the judicial response.
These associations regret, as published by EFE, that everything relies on reinforcement plans and the dedication of professionals, which they consider cannot be the only remedy for overload and high litigation.
They explain that after the “disappointing” meetings with Justice on March 31 and April 4, coinciding with the lawyers’ strike, they announced their intention to draw up a calendar of “pressure measures”, since they concluded without progress and only with the commitment to convene the Remuneration Table before May 10.
For the organizations that justify the strike, it is not enough to call the table on May 3, which could be called off at any time or concluded without agreements, which they consider would be “delaying the agreement and serving as an instrument of government propaganda”. .
For the judges and prosecutors, this call occurs in “a context of systematic and persistent abandonment of the Administration of Justice, which degrades the quality of the institutional response that, from the judicial system, citizens who go to the Courts in search of of the effective protection of their rights”.
The associations express their firm intention to work to reach an agreement that avoids having to implement the pressure measures announced, “from the same good faith that has encouraged us up to now.”
“However, we will not allow this responsible attitude to serve once again as an alibi for the negligent inaction of the Ministries of Justice and Finance, which, within the Government, are responsible for ensuring that our country has an effective judicial system. that it is not possible to achieve if the work of judges, judges and prosecutors is not carried out in adequate conditions – also remunerative –”, he concludes.
