The lawyers of the administration of justice will begin an indefinite strike tomorrow in search of salary improvements

They ask for the dismissal of the Secretary of State who described the strike as "politics without any professional purpose"

MADRID, 23 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Lawyers of the Administration of Justice (LAJ) will begin an indefinite strike tomorrow, Tuesday, with the consequent "risk of paralysis" of the courts and tribunals throughout the country, in demand for a salary increase equivalent to the increase in the workload that they suffered years ago without being compensated then. Within the framework of this measure, they will demonstrate in Plaza Callao in Madrid, at 1:00 p.m., and will mobilize to the Ministry.

The Progressive Union of LAJ (UPSJ), the Independent Association of Lawyers (AinLAJ) and the Illustrious National College of LAJ arrive on the eve of the call demanding the dismissal of the Secretary of State for Justice for saying this Monday at a press conference that the strike is "political", "without any professional purpose" and "against the people".

Rodríguez stressed that the indefinite strike promoted by the three associations "has no labor reason", but rather "clear political reasons" and has stressed that "any claim by this group is out of place" because "they charge between 79% and 140% more than another official of the Administration of Justice of the same levels".

The UPSJ, the AinLAJ and the National College have reproached Rodríguez for his statements and have warned that "if the Ministry of Justice wants a solution to this collective conflict to be reached at some point, this will inevitably entail the need to dismiss the secretary of Condition".

The indefinite strike called for this Tuesday is the result of the labor conflict that the LAJ 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 three associations reproach the Government for not introducing an amendment to the Organizational Efficiency Law so far so that "the salaries of the body of Lawyers of the Administration of Justice refer to those corresponding to the judicial career, in the proportion of improvement that is considered appropriate to the responsibilities inherent to this group".

Within the framework of the conflict, the conveners came to appeal to the "authority" of President Pedro Sánchez, before the "insensitive and irresponsible management" of the Ministry led 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.

The associations warned Sánchez of the "seriousness" and the "extent of the risk of paralyzing all the ordinary activity of the courts and tribunals throughout the country, except for essential services", which the indefinite strike can generate.

Likewise, they stressed that it will also have a "global direct impact on citizens, on companies and on all legal operators that are related to the public service of the Administration of Justice."

Specifically, they warned that judicial payments to individuals (food, debts, compensation, etc.) and to the Public Treasury (fines, deposits, etc.) will be paralyzed, since these officials are the only ones with powers to dispose of funds the Judicial Deposits and Appropriations Account, which has an average balance of 4,500 million euros.

As they explained, the work of the 4,300 lawyers -- officials from the A1 group -- dependent on Justice is "essential", so their absence would cause "enormous damage" in courts and tribunals that will probably result in further delays of the pending matters.

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 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 the 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 it on fire and inflames it, untruthfully in Parliament by stating (without accrediting) having complied with 10 of the 11 claims and 2 remaining pending, which does not even arithmetically correspond to reality".

For his part, Llop asked the conveners last Friday to flee from "maximalist positions" because they prevent "good agreements", ensuring that his Ministry permanently negotiates 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.

As he explained, this implies an "increase in the salary mass of lawyers and lawyers of more than 10 million euros" and supposes "an increase of 5.26% of the average annual salary of the body" of LAJ, additional to the 8% (9 .5% depending on the evolution of the economy) that in general will be experienced by all public employees.

In this sense, the secretary stressed that "in three years the average salary of each lawyer will increase by an average of 14.76%, unparalleled in public administration." On the sidelines, Olmedo stressed that a program has been approved that has increased the remuneration for simultaneous entries and registrations from 30 to 110 euros.

He also stressed that those in charge of the Civil Registry in those towns in which the new model has been implemented already receive the amounts committed, responding to the principle of equal pay for equal responsibility, through extensions of working hours and productivity.

Olmedo also stressed 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. Finally, he assured that "in the coming weeks" they will continue working from the Ministry to improve the conditions of the LAJ.

This Monday, the Secretary of State, Antonio 'Tontxu' Rodríguez, has reviewed the data already outlined by Olmedo and has stressed that Justice has "complied with what the associations have been demanding" and have held "36 meetings with them in 11 months". "The coup leaders call this non-compliance," he pointed out.