MADRID, 28 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Lawyers of the Administration of Justice (LAJ) and the Ministry headed by Pilar Llop have signed an agreement this Tuesday -which includes a rise of up to 450 gross euros per month- to end the strike that the civil servants were maintaining since last January 24 in search of salary improvements that compensate the workload assumed in recent years.
After almost two hours of meeting, the strike committee has given the go-ahead to the Ministry’s proposal after yesterday the LAJ voted in their provincial assemblies in favor of signing the agreement.
As stated in statements to the press by Juan José Yáñez, a member of the strike committee, they have left the meeting with Justice with a “bittersweet” feeling, although he has confirmed that they have signed the agreement and that they have called off the strike.
As reported yesterday by the Illustrious National College of Lawyers, the majority support supported the strike committee so that at the meeting on Tuesday it would accept the conditions of Justice and put an end to the strike once “some terms of the final agreement” that they remained to be “nuanced”.
The sources consulted by Europa Press indicate that the Justice offer contemplates an increase of between 430 and 450 gross euros per month, depending on the level, in three installments: one retroactive to January 1, 2023, another to January 2024 and one last to July 2024.
Of the 2,013 votes cast, 1,524 –representing 76%– were in favor; 421 against –21%– and 68 abstentions –3%–, according to data published by the College of LAJ.
This Tuesday is the fifth meeting since negotiations resumed on March 17 – with the Ministry of Finance also involved – after the break that occurred at the end of February as a result of a series of meetings that the lawyers described as “unsuccessful”.
The agreement comes after more than two months of strike in which, according to data from the convening associations, some 356,000 trials and hearings have been suspended, some 424,000 lawsuits have been stopped and up to 1,280 million have remained stopped in the consignment accounts. of euros.
In these nine weeks, according to the convening associations –the Progressive Lawyers Union (UPSJ), the Illustrious National College of LAJ and the Independent Association of Lawyers (AInLAJ)– there was a participation of between 85% and 73% of Lawyers in the strike, while the Ministry observed between 33.92% and 18.9% follow-up.
Since January 24, the LAJ demonstrated on two occasions at the doors of the Ministry to demand that they be compensated on the payroll for the workload assumed in recent years; They called for the resignation of the Secretary of State for Justice, Antonio ‘Tonxtu’ Rodríguez, and that of the minister herself.
During the strike, the head of the Ministry recalled the measures adopted in the last year in favor of the LAJ –including an increase of up to 14%– and asked the strike committee to move away from “maximalist” positions and to present “realistic” proposals. The Secretary of State went so far as to say that it was a “political” strike that did not pursue any wage claim and stressed that they already earned between 40,000 and 60,000 euros a year.
In the context of the conflict, the Ministry said that the LAJ wanted an increase of up to 1,100 euros per month, something that the lawyers repeatedly denied.
The climax of the conflict took place after the first meeting this year. That February 17, both parties sat at the table for more than 15 hours — including early morning — and got up with mutual reproaches for maintaining immovable positions.
