1683582751 The government is offering judges and prosecutors a pay rise

The government is offering judges and prosecutors a pay rise of nearly €500 a month

The government is offering judges and prosecutors a pay rise

The government put a new offer of pay for judges and prosecutors on the table this Monday, and negotiating sources say it will be the last, trying to avoid the indefinite strike by five of the seven federations that have represented both careers from next May 16 convened. The executive’s proposal comes after judges and prosecutors rejected the first offer put forward last Wednesday, which would mean providing €44.5 million more a year towards the salaries of both bodies. Although judges’ sources initially described the proposal as “good”, the associations consider it insufficient and called for new improvements at this Monday’s remuneration table meeting. According to negotiating sources, the government has offered an increase of almost €500 a month and the federations have agreed to reply on Wednesday. At the moment the call for a strike is pending, which they will decide next Wednesday.

The pay table will meet again in two days and sources present at Monday’s meeting believe the agreement will need to be finalized at that meeting. What is not clear is whether the government will agree to grant the increase without all associations joining, given that the two who bring together the sector’s progressive wing (Judges and Judges for Democracy and the Progressive Union of Prosecutors) are the ones having shown a conservative bias (Professional Association of the Magistracy, Francisco de Vitoria Judicial Association, Independent Judicial Forum, Association of Prosecutors and Independent Professional Association of Prosecutors) has expressed more doubts and will consult their collaborators. According to negotiating sources, the Professional Association of Magistracy (APM), the racial majority and with a conservative leaning, was the one that has shown a more intransigent position, demanding increases much higher than the government’s proposal and distancing itself from consensus proposals , which all bandages have worn.

It is not necessary for all associations to sign it for the agreement to take effect, even the government could make the pay rise effective without any association signing the pact, although the sources rule out that option. The option that some sources consulted consider the most likely is that the agreement will be finalized with the signing of some associations. Those who don’t will then have to decide whether to go on strike after the government increases their wages. Other sources doubt that the government will finalize the deal unless the Conservative Unions withdraw the strike call, and at least the APM doesn’t seem ready to withdraw it at the moment.

Both parties have promised not to disclose the terms of the latest offer for the time being, but negotiating sources indicate that it is higher than the offer agreed with the Justice Department’s lawyers, with hikes between 430 and 450 euros and the put an end to the two-month indefinite strike this corporation. According to these sources, the government’s proposed salary increase for judges and prosecutors is in some cases close to 500 euros a month, the figure most associations called for at Wednesday’s meeting. The Justice and Treasury departments have presented it as a salary adjustment to meet the new requirements that government-sponsored efficiency laws impose on both careers.

The increase would be applied to the destination surcharge levied on all judges and prosecutors and would mean the government allocating 46.7 million euros more to the salaries of both bodies than it does now (last Wednesday’s offer was 44.5 million). The Executive Branch has offered to distribute this amount equally to all judges and prosecutors, or to distribute it in such a way that either the salary of judges who now earn less is increased more and those who earn less are awarded more; or the reverse is done and the salaries of judges and prosecutors in higher courts are less and less improved for those on the grassroots level.

adequacy of salary

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Tuesday’s meeting brought together the Ministries of Justice and Finance, the Associations of Judges and Prosecutors and the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). The aim is to examine an adequacy of judges’ and prosecutors’ salaries in accordance with the Compensation Act for both careers, which stipulates that the remuneration table meets every five years to examine this adequacy, which has not happened. The salary of judges and prosecutors consists of a base salary and several supplements that depend on the position, seniority, destination, goals achieved and other special remuneration. According to the CGPJ, Spanish judges earn between 52,534.52 (judges of lower seniority and assigned to smaller parishes) and 137,935.07 (the President of the National Court). At the Supreme Court, salaries range between the 109,072.40 euros that a judge receives and the 132,769.12 euros that the President receives (the current amount in office does not receive this amount, but that which corresponds to the President of the Chamber , 111,986.44 euros).

The associations have not come up with a common proposal, although they all agree that there are aspects such as guard staff and the per-community surcharge (which varies depending on where the judge or prosecutor is based and is higher in larger municipalities) should change. The CGPJ and the public prosecutor support the demands of the associations. The dean judges of the courts throughout Spain, who met for a national conference in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, also showed their “firm and firm support” for the demands of the associations. “It is important to adapt the remuneration of the judicial career to the responsibility of our function and the work overload that we have endured for years,” they said in a statement released this Monday, adding: “We hope for the benefit of the administration of justice and around to prevent judges from being forced to exercise our right to strike, that an agreement is reached that satisfies the legitimate claims made by the judicial career in the past”.

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