The officials of the Administration of Justice gain momentum after the two-month strike of the lawyers of the Administration of Justice (LAJ) -previously known as judicial secretaries- and threaten mobilizations if the ministry does not resume negotiations for the salary increase of workers in those autonomous communities where powers have not been transferred. The notice comes just one day after the lawyers announced that they accept the offer of the ministerial department headed by Pilar Llop to raise salaries up to 450 euros per month.

The unions of Justice officials – made up of forensic doctors, personnel from the National Institute of Toxicology, Procedural and Administrative Management, Procedural Processing and Judicial Assistance – and the ministry then directed by Juan Carlos Campo -now a magistrate of the Constitutional Court- they carried out in 2021 negotiations to raise salaries, which finally concluded with an increase of 190 euros, from which the lawyers of the Administration of Justice also benefited, according to the officials. One of the main demands of this group is the difference in salaries compared to other civil servants.

Added to this is the fact that the administrations that have jurisdiction over Justice charge more than those that depend on the so-called ‘Ministry zone’ (Extremadura, Castilla la Mancha, Castilla y Léon, Balearic Islands, Murcia, the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, National Court and Supreme Court). The salary difference causes a large part of the civil servants to request the transfer to Autonomous Communities with competences to see an increase in their payrolls.

pay balance

In the midst of the unions’ negotiations with the ministry, the Government Chamber of the National Court came to ask, in May 2021, Justice to adopt the “necessary remuneration measures to avoid the massive departure of civil servants” of said judicial body, based in Madrid, where many of them request the transfer to the courts and tribunals of the capital.

Now, almost two years after these conversations, and after learning the result of the LAJ strike, the Justice officials consider that an “assault” has been carried out on the officials and demand “equal treatment” and salary “balance”, as highlighted by the Justice Administration Workers Union (STAJ). In a statement, it ensures that if the Ministry of Justice does not “urgently” convene the sectoral table to review the remuneration, not only of the workers that depend on its management, but of the entire Administration of Justice, the unions will carry out a ” joint action” to call mobilizations.

In this same sense, the Independent Union Central and Officials Central (CSIF), the majority union in the Administration of Justice, has also declared that it is “disrespect” towards the rest of the officials of the sector the agreement reached with the LAJ. “The ministry itself has recognized that any upward change in the remuneration of a body has repercussions on the rest of the careers, bodies, categories… so that any change that is proposed has a collateral and cascading impact on the amounts received by the rest of the staff,” he warns.

For Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), the proposal made to the lawyers of the Administration of Justice is “an attack on the professional dignity of the rest of the Corps.”

nine weeks of strike

The so-called judicial secretaries have been nine weeks of indefinite strike -which will be called off when the agreement with the Ministry of Justice is signed- in defense of a salary increase that would be in accordance with the functions that were granted to him in 2009. In this sense, the officials affirm that “if it is to recognize the remuneration” for the performance of tasks for 14 years, they should also be compensated, since “the majority of those functions are effectively performed by civil servants of the General Corps that make up the judicial offices and secretariats of courts, tribunals and prosecutors”.

The strikes of the lawyers of the Administration of Justice, which began on January 24, have caused the suspension of 400,000 trials and views; the halting of the processing of 480,000 lawsuits that are pending before the courts; and the retention of 1,500 million euros in the consignment accounts.

On the other hand, the unions also demand the suspension of the processing of the future Organizational Efficiency Law. The representatives of the officials criticize that the approval of this law will mean a “radical change” in the structure of the Administration of Justice and affirm that it will lead to a loss of rights and a worsening of working conditions, since the current system is modified. of destinations.

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