Justice places at 24.5% the follow-up of the third day of the LAJ strike while the conveners speak of 78%
MADRID, 26 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Associations of Lawyers of the Administration of Justice (LAJ) convening the indefinite strike that began last Tuesday have estimated at about 30,000 judicial acts that have had to be suspended due to the stoppage. On their third day, they ensure that the follow-up has been 78% of the workforce, although the Ministry of Justice places it at 24.5%.
As detailed by the strike committee in a statement late on Thursday, some 30,000 trial hearings, appearances and conciliation acts have been suspended, while some 11 million judicial files have been paralyzed, “causing a delay of one minimum of three months in each one of them”.
Likewise, they have detailed that an amount close to 110 million euros has been immobilized in the deposit and consignment accounts. “The reality is that the Administration of Justice in Spain is stopped,” the conveners have lamented.
The three associations — the Progressive Union of Lawyers of the Administration of Justice (UPSJ), the Independent Association of Lawyers (AinLAJ) and the Illustrious National College of Lawyers — have reported that the participation this Thursday has been similar to the of the last two days of strike, when a follow-up of more than 80% was registered.
From the Ministry they have communicated that the data on the participation in the strike decrease compared to the first two days. Thus, it goes from 28.23% on Tuesday to 26.98% on Wednesday and reaches 24.5% this Thursday.
The three signatory associations, in a second statement issued this Thursday, criticize the figures collected by the Ministry led by Pilar Llop and ensure that the department offers “biased and totally erroneous data in its attempt to discourage the call.”
The conveners insist that Justice “adds the unavailable troops to the total as non-strikers and does not include among those who support the minimum services that communicate their adhesion.”
“Unfortunately, the reality is that the Administration of Justice in Spain is stopped, and that the Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop, continues without calling the Strike Committee and without making the slightest attempt to resolve the conflict,” they point out.
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 point out as a “trigger” of the conflict the agreement that the Ministry of Justice signed in December 2021 with the unions of the general bodies “without properly developing the salary adjustment to the latest procedural reforms provided for in the second paragraph of Additional Provision 157 of Law 11/2020 of General State Budgets for 2021”.
The associations accuse Justice of prolonging and intensifying the conflict: “Not only has it not called the Strike Committee, (…) but it sets fire to it and inflames it, misrepresenting the truth in Parliament by affirming (without accrediting it) having complied with 10 of the 11 claims and 2 remaining pending, which does not even arithmetically correspond to reality”.
A week ago, LLop asked the conveners to flee from “maximalist positions” because they prevented “good agreements”, ensuring that his Ministry is permanently negotiating with the different LAJ associations.
In addition, he emphasized that these officials are a very important component for the proper functioning of the work of courts and tribunals, to ask them to be aware that whoever exercises a public function does so for the citizens.
That same day, the Ministry sent a letter to the LAJ signed by the Secretary General for Innovation and Quality of the Public Justice Service, Manuel Olmedo, in light of the “disinformation that apparently exists” about the actions carried out by the department “in interest” of the body.
Olmedo took stock of the objectives he proposed to achieve when he took office. He recalled that the first measure, linked to the modification of the royal salary decrees to make the union agreement adopted in December 2021 effective, was approved in April 2022 and represented a retroactive increase. “The fullness of the effects will be reflected in the payroll for this month of January, reaching an increase in supplements of 206.87 euros,” he specified.
