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Unions denounce Llop for blocking negotiation, coercion and degrading treatment

2023-06-09T16:53:51.829Z

Highlights: Justice says it is willing to negotiate, but after the July 23 elections. The conflict between the officials of the Administration of Justice and the Government is entrenched since last April. Five members of the strike committee have remained locked up until Friday at the headquarters of the Ministry of Justice waiting for the negotiation to resume. The unions have ended their confinement at five in the afternoon after denouncing that the ministry did not allow food to be delivered to them and after one of them had to be treated by the Medical Emergency Service of Madrid (SUMMA)


Justice says it is willing to negotiate, but after the July 23 elections


Demonstrators hold banners during a rally in front of the Ministry of Justice on June 6.A. Pérez Meca (Europa Press)

The judicial unions have fulfilled their threat and, this Friday, have presented a brief in the Prosecutor's Office of the Supreme Court in which they ask that the minister and the Secretary of State for Justice, Pilar Llop and Tontxu Rodríguez, be investigated for keeping the conflict blocked with the workers, who remain on indefinite strike since May 22. According to the unions (CSIF, STAJ, CC OO and UGT), the ministry is failing in its duty under section 8.2 of the industrial relations decree (commonly known as the "Strike Decree 1977") to convene the strike committee for the duration of the protest." If the negotiation is not carried out, it is impossible for the strike to be called off, unless it is intended with this lack of convening meetings that the salary discounts made for so many days of strike can dissuade the workers to continue it, "they point out in their letter.

The conflict between the officials of the Administration of Justice and the Government is entrenched since last April, when the workers began to mobilize to demand a salary increase of between 350 and 450 euros per month, in line with the agreement reached between the Central Executive and the lawyers of the Administration of Justice (the former judicial secretaries) that ended two months of indefinite strike by that body.

Both parties finally met last Tuesday, but the meeting ended without agreement and, since then, five members of the strike committee have remained locked up until Friday at the headquarters of the Ministry of Justice waiting for the negotiation to resume. The unions have ended their confinement at five in the afternoon after denouncing that the ministry did not allow food to be delivered to them and after one of them had to be treated by the Medical Emergency Service of Madrid (SUMMA) for being indisposed. The end of the lockdown, warn the unions, does not mean the end of the protest as the indefinite strike continues.

Justice sources point out that the ministry has offered several options to the locked up workers this week, an extreme that they deny. The complaint has caught Llop in Luxembourg, in the Council of Ministers of Justice of the EU, where it was discussed, among other things, against violence against women. Article 8.2 of the strike decree states: "From the moment of notice and during the strike, the strike committee and the employer (...) must negotiate to reach an agreement" and the workers defend that they have fulfilled their part "by attending the meetings that have been convened". "Not so the Ministry of Justice and its top officials," say the workers, who accuse the minister and the secretary of state of avoiding meetings from April 24 to June 6 and of ending the negotiations from that day, despite the fact that the strike continues and no agreement has been reached for its recall. "The breach of their obligation to negotiate by the Ministry of Justice and its highest officials is an act contrary to law and carried out knowing its illegality," say the workers in the brief they have presented to the Supreme Prosecutor's Office.

The spokesman of the strike committee, the general secretary of the Sector of the Administration of Justice of CC OO, Luis Calero, one of those locked up, told EFE on Friday that after the third night inside the ministry, where they have been since Tuesday, the situation has worsened but they intend to continue until some government official agrees to negotiate with them. "We trust that the Secretary of State for Justice, Tontxu Rodríguez, the minister or the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, reconsider the situation, because we ask at least to negotiate improvements in remuneration and working conditions as has been done with other groups," said Calero in reference to the agreements with judges, prosecutors and lawyers of the Administration of Justice.

Justice sources see in the confinement of officials in the ministerial headquarters a certain electoral component due to the proximity of the general elections of July 23. Regarding the strike and the negotiations demanded by the unions, these sources affirm that the leadership of the ministry is willing to "talk", but after the July elections. "Now it is impossible to reach an economic agreement," they say. For now, these sources add, only a "commitment for the future is reached, so that in the next legislature there is dialogue or negotiation on these terms." This is the proposal made on Monday by the government to the unions, but they rejected.

Justice admits that the conflict with Justice has festered between two elections. The next general and the previous, the municipal and regional of May 28. The ministry affirms that with 12 communities with transferred competences of Justice it was at least necessary to "deal" with the autonomous executives. "It is the regional governments who pay the salaries of civil servants. Even a generic plugin. And in a position in which it is not yet known if the governments are going to be the same, you cannot link them, whatever color they are," say the same sources. "It was not the most opportune moment to open a debate of that magnitude, because in addition the strike was going to be introduced as another element of the regional campaign," they add regarding the May elections. Justice was waiting for the regional governments to be configured to sit down to talk, but the advance of the general elections has complicated the process. "The unions have decided to do it now, with the damage that this causes to the Administration of Justice and citizens, and in a situation where they know we cannot make decisions about this."

End of confinement

At five o'clock in the afternoon of this Friday, the four members of the strike committee who remained locked up since Tuesday (there were five, but one left by ambulance this morning after feeling unwell) have left the building of the Ministry of Justice. Dozens of comrades from the unions UGT, CC OO, CSIF and STAF have wrapped them in cheers and applause. "Proud of the strike committee," they repeated effusively at the doors of the ministry. The spokesman of the committee and general secretary of Justice of Comisiones Obreras, Luis Calero, has confirmed that they end the confinement but that "the conflict continues in force". Calero has regretted that the ministry has refused to negotiate and also the "humanitarian aggressions" they say they have suffered. "They left us without food, although that's the least of it," he said in statements to the media.

The spokesman thanked his colleagues from all over Spain for the signs of support that have made them "stronger". "The strike will continue and the protests will continue," the spokesman said. "We do not understand why they do not want to sit down to negotiate," he added. He has also conveyed the request that the government appoint a new interlocutor to be able to resume negotiations without the presence of the secretary of state, whom the workers accuse of abruptly leaving Tuesday's meeting. Calero and his three fellow inmates have admitted that they are tired of these days, but that they feel "more united and firm than ever."

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2023-06-09

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