The Union of Judicial Officers (SOJ) has called a strike for next Monday, September 4, for the entire day, admitting to escalating the struggle “if the government maintains the arrogance it has shown”.
In the statement released today, the union recalls that it has been on strike since the beginning of January this year and criticizes the “deafening silence” and “inaction” of the Minister of Justice in relation to the “just demands” of the judicial staff, including the inclusion of the procedural recovery supplement in their salary with retroactive effect to January 2021 and payment in 14 months; the opening of promotions and new posts; and a specific retirement scheme for these professionals.
The strike scheduled for Monday follows that of the Union of Judicial Employees (SFJ), scheduled for Friday, September 1st.
According to the SFJ strike notice, the stoppage will take place between 09:00 and 17:00 and no minimum services will be called.
The SFJ is immediately demanding a call for tenders for all vacant posts and categories and the inclusion of the procedural recovery supplement in the salary, also backdated to January 2021 and paid in 14 months, as, the union recalls, was provided for in two state budgets.
As part of collective bargaining, the SFJ wants a revision of the professional statute that dignifies the career, but also a special retirement scheme and a multi-year competition to fill vacant posts.
The September 1 strike was announced by SFJ president António Marçal in July, at the end of an Extraordinary General Assembly in Viseu, where he also announced that on the Monday following the September 1 general strike, strikes would begin in an innovative format, alternating or rotating.
“It’s a strike that starts at the time for which the magistrate’s agenda has the scheduled events and ends, in the morning, at 12:30,” and then, “in the afternoon, it also starts at the time of the scheduled event and ends at 17:00,” he explained.
According to António Marçal, these strikes “will not have to be the same throughout the country, but will take place until December 31, 2023, in parallel with more classic strikes of total or partial paralysis by nuclei or districts,” accompanied by gatherings of judicial staff.
Regarding the revision of the professional statute of judicial staff, the Minister of Justice, Catarina Sarmento e Castro, at a parliamentary hearing at the end of June, promised that “a formal proposal” for a new statute would be presented “in the next few weeks”, something that has not happened so far.
