Madrid, May 22 (EFE).- Justice administration officials, who began an indefinite strike on Monday to demand labor and wage improvements, have urged the Ministries of Justice and the Treasury and Civil Service to negotiate after having reached an agreement, which they will sign on Tuesday, with judges and prosecutors.
In a concentration of about one hundred officials before the Treasury, with the dialogue broken with the Government since last April 24 and after more than a month of specific strikes, the CSIF, STAJ, CCOO and UGT unions have asked both Ministries this afternoon to put an end to what they consider a “tease” and sit down to negotiate a salary increase and the content of the Organic Law of Organizational Efficiency (LOEO).
“We trust that the Ministry (of Justice) is democratic in the strict sense of the word (…). It is not tolerable at all that the Ministry of Justice gives favorable treatment to the elite bodies of the administration of Justice with negotiations that are inappropriate for a progressive government”, argued the representative of the CCOO, Javier Hernández, referring to the agreement with the judicial lawyers and the one that will be signed tomorrow with judges and prosecutors.
Hernández, who has branded this behavior as “classist”, has reiterated that the unions will only suspend the mobilizations if the Government presents a “solid” proposal, which includes the negotiation of the LOEO, the specification of its functions and an economic offer that has “much to do” with that of lawyers, judges and prosecutors.
Specifically, they ask for between 350 and 430 gross euros more per month for the 45,000 civil servants called to strike, mostly workers from the Judicial Management, Processing and Assistance bodies, but also forensic doctors and special bodies from the National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Science.
The reform of the LOEO, they indicate, “is a cut in jobs, a restructuring that will hinder mobility and professional promotion, and also a cut in salaries.”
For this reason, as the “heart of the administration of Justice”, they ask to negotiate its content before it is approved at the table of Congress, “probably next month”, since they consider that it does not adapt to the reality of the courts.
“Trials are being massively suspended, the processing of procedures is being massively delayed; We are talking about thousands – even millions – of paralyzed procedures and thousands of suspended trials, and what interests us least is causing this damage to the public”, lamented the CSIF Justice coordinator in the Community of Madrid, Juan Carlos Ferreiro.
The concentrations planned during the week before the PSOE headquarters in Ferraz and before the Ministry of Justice in San Bernardo have been suspended due to the electoral campaign, but on Thursday a “massive” demonstration is planned in Madrid until the Public Function on Santa Engracia street .
The unions consider that it is an “excuse” to “restrict the right to demonstrate” and a “violation of rights”.
While the officials maintain their protest, this Tuesday the remuneration table will meet again at the headquarters of Justice to sign the agreement for a salary increase agreed with the majority of associations of judges and prosecutors, who decided last week to call off the scheduled strike.
The agreement, which has the opposition of the majority Professional Association of the Magistracy (APM), includes a salary increase of about 450 euros gross per month.
In statements sent to the media, the spokesman for the Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association, Jorge Fernández Vaquero, agreed that the desired point has not been reached economically, but considers that the closed agreement is “the only reasonable way out”. alternative to an indefinite strike that would have aggravated the “collapse” of the administration of justice.
For its part, the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), which also participates in the remuneration table, will hold an extraordinary plenary session on Wednesday to analyze the proposal.
Five members of the conservative sector asked to hold the plenary session this Monday, but finally, as reported in a statement by the governing body of the judges, their meeting will take place on Wednesday.