Lawyers of the Judicial Administration: “Money, money, money”

Lawyers of the Judiciary (former court officials) are still on strike. What reasons do they give for completely paralyzing the courts since January 24 in such a way that more than 160,000 trials have already been suspended and more than 560 million euros are awaiting delivery? They want the contracts signed by the referee associations to be fulfilled in 2022. But the main thing is one and simple: they want to charge more.

– How much do you charge?

— This body belongs to group A1 (graduates or graduates in law) and their salaries range between 39,011.80 and 60,826.79 euros per year, according to the data of the Ministry of Justice. To these amounts should be added those of productivity, complements and substitutions. As explained by the aforementioned department of the ministry, they receive compensation for applications and registrations, which has increased by more than 300 percent, from 30 to 110 euros per month for each movement. In addition, as far as the substitution regime is concerned, it has more than doubled, from 700 to 1,600 euros per month.

— Lawyers claim that the requests are related to an increase in functions. Are they paid?

—The functions of these officials have increased —”with which they now have more authority,” say some consulted lawyers— but, according to various sources, they perform them during the same working hours. The Ministry of Pilar Llop ensures that they received a salary increase of 206.87 euros per month from a special allowance in relation to the new functions, which represents an increase of an average of 5.26% of their annual salary (2482 euros per year). In addition to this increase was added a 9.5 percent increase that will affect the salaries of all public officials over the next three years. Adding these increases, between 2022 and 2024, this group was able to increase their pay by 14.76%.

“How much would you agree?”

—roughwith 85% of what the judges charge.

“And how much do the judges charge?”

— On average between 51,946 euros per year at the beginning of the career up to 130,654 if they reach the highest positions, says the report European judicial systems. The compensation is similar to that of the plaintiff.

“What does the Department of Justice say?”

— That a lawyer charges between 63.33 and 83.94% of what a judge or prosecutor does, and that the difference in remuneration is justified by the difference in the functions, responsibilities and type of opposition of both bodies. “The calculation – explains Justice – is based on the judge’s award 15/2003”.

How many people make up the group?

—4,300 civil servants (271 in Galicia).

— How many days of vacation do you have?

– The department of the ministry did not answer this question, nor were the strike days rejected. What Justice did do was limit vacation days during the strike, a decision the strikers appealed.

On Friday, these officials and their “employers” had an unsuccessful meeting. He will have another one tomorrow. In the judicial media, there is a bet that at the end of this protest process, lawyers’ salaries will be increased, but in the long term. We’ll see.