Indefinite national strike stalls cases in around 40 Malaga province courts

An indefinite national strike by lawyers and solicitors that has been under way since 21 November has led to the suspension of trials and proceedings in around 40 courts in Malaga province. The legal professionals are calling for better remuneration and the guarantee of the right to digital disconnection among other demands.

According to Francisco Sánchez, representative of the Venia union, around 40 per cent of the lawyers who make up the legal aid system in Malaga, comprising almost a thousand professionals, have exercised their right to strike in the province. "Andalucía is where we are the worst paid; we are paid 129 euros per case, despite the countless hours we can work on each case," Sánchez said.

The strikers are asking, among other things, for equal pay throughout the country and also that when a person is denied legal aid after their proceedings were initially handled by a legal aid lawyer, it should not be the lawyers themselves who "go after them to collect the corresponding fees".

Gracia Isabel García, a lawyer who co-ordinated a strike demonstration in Malaga city, said that what the professionals are asking for is to work "with minimum conditions of dignity". García said there have been case suspensions in some forty courts in Malaga province, including the Costa del Sol. These have affected criminal, social, contentious-administrative and investigative courts, among others.

The organisers in Malaga said that those who are supporting the strike are respecting the minimum services: cases involving detainees or prisoners; in which there are under age children; or possible victims of gender violence; and cases with protective orders.