Will the ‘white strike’ of judges be repeated and will the announcements of other strikes come true, resulting in consequences for professions related to the judiciary

—

—

The white strike of judges has ended, as announced (it lasted from May 8 to May 22), and Vesna Horvath from the Croatian Judges’ Association (UHS) stated that the work of judges has returned to normal. However, she noted that ‘she does not know how long normal will last’ as after the judges, the judicial police and officials announced a strike if their demands are not met.

But the question is whether the judges have said the last word regarding the strike, as there is still no agreement on a pay raise between the Ministry of Justice and the administration and the Croatian Judges’ Association (UHS). Although there were no major consequences, possible future work stoppages in the judiciary could also cause problems for other professions (lawyers, notaries, court experts) that are inherently connected to the work of the judiciary.

According to what can be heard from judicial circles, judges were not exactly united, as a smaller part of them was against the strike, but they had to ‘go through with it’ because they were, as one of our sources says,’under pressure to show solidarity with their colleagues’. However, as we mentioned, for now, there are no significant consequences for other professions closely related to the judiciary.

Lawyer Mićo Ljubenko, vice president of the Croatian Bar Association and a member of its Management Board, says that realistically, lawyers did not have a work problem in the past two weeks, but if the judges’ ‘white strike’ were to be repeated, they would be collateral victims as their work would be hindered. He particularly emphasizes that it would not be good for the strike to be repeated considering that we are entering the summer period when courts generally operate less. On the other hand, it would not be good for postponed court hearings to be attempted to be made up for in the summer.

– Regardless of the judges’ strike, we have been asking for a long time for a provision to be included in the Law on Judicial Delivery that would suspend hearings from August 1 to 15 because that is the time when lawyers, as well as their clients, are on vacation. Imagine that I have to send a response to a lawsuit by August 3, but I cannot reach my client. Therefore, we want this to be regulated solely for legal certainty, not for the strike, and this is currently relevant, and I hope that the Law will be amended in this regard. And since this has not yet been regulated, there is a possibility that during that period, attempts will be made to make up for missed hearings during the strike, and if the judges were to strike again, we lawyers would suffer the consequences along with others – says Ljubenko.

—

Mićo Ljubenko

photo

—

The ‘white strike’ of judges is mutually unfortunate for both the judiciary and the executive power, adds this commercial law expert, as both sides ‘have kept this problem in the drawer for far too long’. It should not have happened, he continues, that they did not sit down to talk about either increasing or maintaining salary levels for years.

– Precisely because neither the judiciary nor the executive initiated discussions on this topic, it had to look like this. They should have discussed it every year, and then they would have kept any potential problems under control. This is the first time in 30 years that there has been a conflict between them, and the word ‘strike’ has never even been mentioned among judges. I hope that both sides will learn a lesson from this whole story and that there will not be a new strike, and that they will have to discuss salaries every year – says Ljubenko.

Virovitica lawyer Kosta Lacmanović says that for now, there are no consequences for his work, but generally, he adds, neither for the work of his colleagues. For example, the ‘white strike’ was an opportunity to complete some tasks that lawyers had postponed for various reasons. In addition, commercial courts worked on matters related to changes in company statutes, aligning share capital…

– Clients are coming in regularly, we are preparing future lawsuits or defenses, we have just completed a response to a lawsuit and sent it to court to meet the deadline. I think that two weeks will not disrupt anything regarding our work, the only thing that will disrupt is the schedule of hearings in the courts, which will affect our clients. But unfortunately, that could not be avoided – says Lacmanović.

In response to our question about what he thinks about the strike, he adds that he is neither for nor against it. Everyone has the right to seek their own, but he does not want to delve into the reasons of the judges.

Nothing dramatic has happened

Lawyer Vesna Alaburić fully supports the judges because she says that this move they decided on is an indicator of what the situation is like for them and that it was obviously the only way to force the executive to negotiate. In her office, she adds, despite everything, they had work.

– We had hearings, even one judge scheduled a hearing because she assessed that in the case of a postponement, she could only schedule a new one in September, which further complicated the problem for the parties in the proceedings. The judges behaved quite professionally throughout the strike, and I fully support them – says Alaburić.

And lawyer Ljubo Pavasović Visković says that nothing dramatic has happened in the past two weeks, especially since he had some hearings in the field of criminal law that had an urgent status, while there were also those that were postponed.

– I even believe that the length of the strike was thought out precisely so that the judges could not be accused of jeopardizing the system – says Pavasović Visković.

Although he is generally against judges striking because it is a very important profession that must have limitations for the sake of legal certainty and the functioning of the system, he justifies the ‘white strike’ because the situation in the judiciary is very difficult and getting worse. It is not just about salaries, he explains, but also about unsustainable working conditions; the entire system is neglected in terms of personnel and material resources.

—

Ljubo Pavasović Visković

photo

—

Lawyer Vesna Škare Ožbolt, a former Minister of Justice in the government of Ivo Sanader with whom she clashed and parted ways, also thinks the same. She believes that the executive must take care of the social picture of first-instance judges because their salaries are truly inappropriate for their position and role. Compared to advisors at the Supreme Court, the salaries of first-instance judges,’who bear the greatest burden in the judiciary’, have reached only a third, and Škare Ožbolt believes they must be equalized.

According to the proposal of the Minister of Justice and Administration Ivan Malenica, amendments to the Law on Salaries of Judges and Other Judicial Officials foresee an increase in the base by eight percent, an increase in the coefficient for first-instance judicial officials from 3.54 to 4.21, and the introduction of certain material rights. If the Croatian Parliament adopts this proposal, the salaries of first-instance judges will increase by 513 euros, or 26 percent, while the Croatian Judges’ Association is seeking a salary increase of 600 euros.

Škare Ožbolt expects that the Ministry of Justice and Administration, as the executive, will manage to reach an agreement with the UHS regarding the pay raise in the first phase and that she expects quality solutions for judges in the second phase.

– That second phase is even more important because it is planned to form classes, and that really needs to be resolved properly. I fully support the judges in their strike because they are not the only ones who have decided on this move. Their colleagues in Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, and other countries have also struck, and the salaries of first-instance judges in Croatia are much lower than theirs. It is not just about the social status of judges, but also about the independence of the judiciary, which is much harder to ensure when you have low salaries – says Škare Ožbolt.

Otherwise, she adds, like other interlocutors, she did not have negative consequences due to the white strike; in her office, they used that time to resolve non-priority tasks, although despite that, she had several scheduled hearings due to urgency.

However, if the announcements of judicial police and officials that they will also strike come true, and if first-instance judges repeat the strike, then real problems will arise not only for the parties in the proceedings but also for professions related to the judiciary. Moreover, as stated, these possible strikes could also jeopardize the legal security of citizens and entrepreneurs, which, logically, is not good at all.