The strike of the Lawyers of the Administration of Justice (better known as court clerks by their previous name) is not an isolated protest. The strike, with a start date -January 24- but not an end date, will have a direct impact on the lives of many citizens and companies. The protest will not only prevent the holding of thousands of trials and declarations, but will also block judicial accounts with an average balance of 4,500 million euros, whose management corresponds exclusively to this body of officials who depend on the Ministry of Justice.
Alimony; payment to minors; lien withholdings; compensation; deposit of bonds and civil liability; the payment of costs for the processing of appeals; or the transfer of fines to the Public Treasury are some of the cases that as of next Tuesday will be paralyzed with the strike for which the 4,300 Lawyers of the Administration of Justice in Spain.
Also all the processing of any judicial procedure, especially in the commercial jurisdiction where there are no urgent actions, which are the ones that will be covered by the minimum services; the publication of auctions; the proceedings for the patrimonial investigation; payment judgments (for the collection of debts); or reconciliations and divorces by mutual agreement will be directly affected.
Likewise, the notification of resolutions that require the signature of the former judicial secretary will not be made during the duration of the protest, while all judicial hearings, where the Justice Administration Lawyer acts as notary public, will be forced to find a new egg in the saturated agendas of the courts, which have already drawn the calendars of, even, the next five years, as occurs in the social jurisdiction.
The only possibility that can avoid the stoppages is that the Ministry that directs Pilar Llop Call with the offer to resume negotiations on your working conditions and compensation. Sources from the convening lawyers associations assure Five days that their intention is to cause as little harm as possible to citizens and companies that go to court to find a solution to their disputes, although they see no other way out for their claims to be addressed.
In fact, in order not to go to this extreme, the lawyers sent a letter this week to the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchezto “alert of the seriousness and extent of the risk of paralysis of all ordinary activity of the courts throughout the country, except for essential services” and take the “necessary measures”.
Last way: mediation
As a last alternative to open the dialogue, mediation has been launched. Four members of the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ) and the recently elected dean of the Madrid Bar Association (ICAM), Eugenio Ribón, have agreed to intervene in this conflict as mediators to reach a “peaceful” solution, according to the committee of Lawyers’ strike in a press release.
For her part, the Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop, asked the court secretaries this Friday to “flee from maximalist positions” in order to reach “good agreements”, while defending that her department is in permanent negotiation with the associations of lawyers.
The truth is that the threat of an indefinite strike had been hovering over the courts for months. As a measure of pressure, the lawyers carried out strikes on November 29 and 30 and December 14 and 15 to demand that the Government fulfill its promise to increase wages by more than 5% after the attribution of new functions and responsibilities.
The Ministry reported that the reason why the court clerks tried to paralyze Justice when 10 of the 11 commitments made with them had been fulfilled was not understood. These demonstrations raised the tension and the representatives of the legal community chose to make use of what they consider the “last resort”: the strike.
Other measures
Minimum services. During the strike, the Justice Administration Lawyers will provide minimum services so that all those urgent actions can continue to be carried out. To guarantee this measure, the Secretary General for Innovation and Quality of the Public Justice Service, Manuel Olmedo, issued a resolution establishing in which cases there must always be an operational Lawyer. However, the group has not welcomed the criteria set out, which have been branded as “abusive”. Sources from the associations calling the strike told this newspaper that they are preparing an appeal before the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) to annul said order.
Manifestation. The start of the indefinite strike will begin with a demonstration in the capital, with a march of about 700 meters, which will go from the central Plaza de Callao to the headquarters of the Ministry of Justice, according to indications from the strike committee.
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