He says that the Ministry has complied with the claims made so far and that “any claim from this group is out of place”
The Secretary of State for Justice, Antonio ‘Tontxu’ Rodríguez, has assured this Monday that the strike of the Lawyers of the Administration of Justice (LAJ) is “political” and “without any professional purpose”, denouncing “that it wants to harm the citizens”. “It is a strike against the people”, he has stressed, while criticizing the actions of the calling associations and has asked the lawyers not to support the stoppage.
This has been pronounced by the high official of the Ministry of Justice in a press conference to respond to the call for an indefinite strike by the Progressive Union of Lawyers of the Administration of Justice (UPSJ), the National College of Lawyers and the Independent Association of Lawyers (AinLAJ) scheduled for tomorrow Tuesday.
Rodríguez has criticized the attitude of the three organizers of the strike considering that the indefinite strike “has no labor reason”, but “clear political reasons”. “It goes far beyond union and labor objectives,” he said while recalling that the associations “are not unions” and that, therefore, participation in collective bargaining is not recognized in the Constitution.
For the Secretary of State, “any claim by this group is out of place.” It is absolutely reckless”, he insisted after recalling that “those who start a strike tomorrow earn between 79% and 140% more than another official of the Administration of Justice of the same levels”; a figure to which, as he recalled, , we must add the increase of 9.5% of civil servants.According to the calculations of the Ministry, the salary of a LAJ ranges between 30,000 and 59,000 euros per year.
Thus, Rodríguez has stressed that “the LAJ have seen their salary increased by 14%”, something “that has no comparison” with other officials. “They are the ones that earn the best at their levels,” he said, later stressing that “the LAJ are not judges, they are not prosecutors and they will not be.”
In addition, it has highlighted that the delayed administrative processes have already been normalized, particularly in terms of access to the body, with the calls for public job offers corresponding to 2019, 2020 and 2021.
In line, the ‘number two’ of Pilar Llop has assured that the Ministry of Justice has “complied with what the associations have been demanding” and that they have held “36 meetings in 11 months”. “The strikers call this non-compliance,” she pointed out, later stressing that “to say that there has been a lack of meetings is shameless or impudent.”
The Lawyers of the Administration of Justice will begin an indefinite strike on Tuesday, with the consequent “risk of paralysis” of the courts and tribunals throughout the country, in demand for a salary improvement equivalent to the increase in the workload they suffered years ago without then being compensated.
This ‘sine die’ stoppage of the LAJ is the result of the labor conflict that they have had for months with the Ministry of Justice and that has led them to carry out specific strikes — which forced them to suspend trials and statements, including some of what is known as ‘Villarejo case’ in the National Court– and concentrations.
The conflict has its origin in “the lack of salary adequacy to the greater functions and responsibilities attributed by Law 13/2009, discharged to judges, and increased in successive reforms”, especially that of 2015, which -they denounce- – has caused an “unbearable imbalance”.
The conveners came to appeal to the “authority” of Pedro Sánchez, before the “insensitive and irresponsible management” of the Ministry directed by Pilar Llop. “It depends only on the Government that you preside over to approve the modifications of the Royal Remuneration Decrees and the Organic Statute,” they urged in a joint statement.
