The follow-up meeting between the Ministry of Justice (MJ) and the Union of Judicial Officials (SOJ) on the payment of the supplement ended without agreement, so the union continues the strikes and prepares to appeal to parliament.

“Unfortunately, the minister feels comfortable with the agreement she signed with the other union structure and that is contrary to the interests of the bailiffs. For our part, we will be here to show the Government that the agreement is useless,” said the president of the SOJ, Carlos Almeida, to Lusa, regarding the complementary negotiation meeting that took place today at the MJ.

Although the union has shown itself willing to relax the demands, admitting a scaling of the 15% objective in the procedural recovery supplement, “The minister said there was no room”go beyond the 13.5% already agreed with the Judicial Employees Union (SFJ) and integrate the supplement into the salary, as the SOJ continues to demand.

In response to this, Carlos Almeida intends to address the parliamentary groups of the Left Bloc and the PCP, which have bills to guarantee the integration of the supplement into the salary and its payment in 14 months, something that was already proposed by the PSD and by the Minister of Finance, then deputy, Miranda Sarmento, when the PSD was in the opposition.

“Now the Minister of Finance says that this could not be done because it would be illegal. We don’t see how it could be illegal.having already been proposed by the Minister of Finance himself and already done for two other careers,” including that of judges, said Carlos Almeida, criticizing the change of position of the head of the Treasury portfolio.

The SOJ, in the absence of an agreement, maintains the declared strikes in forcein the afternoon, every day of the week, and also on Wednesday and Friday mornings, a strike that last week again led to the release of detainees without being present at the first judicial interrogation, as it was not possible to meet with the 48 – the time limit for this purpose.

It is not guaranteed that the minister will call the union back to discuss these issues, as this is still open, but Carlos Almeida admits that the eventual discussion in parliament of the two bills could exert pressure in that direction.

Justice and guardianship officials will no longer begin formal negotiations on the Statute on Tuesday

The meeting on Tuesday between the unions and the Ministry of Justice to review the Statute of Judicial Workers will be preparatory and not negotiative and the Government does not guarantee a career review this year, said a union, information confirmed by the Minister of Justice, Rita Alarcão Júdice, to the Union of Judicial Officials (SOJ), at the meeting on Tuesday.

According to the president of SOJ, Carlos Almeida, the union had alerted the supervisory authority about the impossibility of starting formal negotiations without the publication in the Bulletin of Labor and Employment (BTE) of the draft Statute, after which a period of 30 days opens for a public hearing, as defined by law.

Carlos Almeida questioned the Government’s “good faith” in this negotiation processhaving confirmed on June 18, in a meeting with the Union of Judicial Employees (SFJ), the start of formal negotiations for July 2, knowing that the legal requirements were not met, an issue that was raised with the Minister of Justice on June 19, the day on which the last ordinary negotiation meeting on the procedural recovery supplement was held.

“The minister acknowledged that it was not possible to do so. This meeting tomorrow will be another preparatory meeting, a conversation so that the partners can talk about whatever they want. It is no longer a formal status negotiation”, he said.

Also on June 18, at the end of the meeting, the SFJ said the government planned to complete the review of professional status before the end of the year, something the SOJ said was not guaranteed, as last week, at a meeting in According to the Ministry of Finance, the government has not even assured that the career of bailiffs will be among the civil service careers to be reviewed by the end of this year.

According to Carlos Almeida, the Executive will only finalise “the career package to be reviewed between this year and 2025” in September, but at today’s meeting at the Ministry of Justice, which was also attended by the Secretary of State for Public Administrations, Marisa Garrido, there was a commitment to try to bring forward this decision to the end of July.