The clerks will make their “anger” heard this Thursday. Their main union has in fact called for a “Dead Justice” day while negotiations with the Chancellery are failing over the number of clerks who will move to category A from 2024.
“The staff are not recognized in their missions and work in working conditions which are not worthy of a country like France,” explained Hervé Bonglet, secretary general of Unsa Judicial Services (majority), on Tuesday. The CGT Chancellery and Judicial Services also filed a strike notice valid until the end of October.
Actions started on Tuesday
As of this Tuesday, in Lyon, all correctional hearings, with the exception of immediate appearances, have been postponed to later dates due to the strike movement. At 2 p.m., around thirty clerks, dressed in their black dresses decorated with a red flap, as a sign of anger, lay down on the ground, in the courtroom of the judicial court.
In Poitiers, clerks at the court of appeal gathered behind a banner: “Don’t ignore us, we will not forget you”. Others posed in front of the judicial court of Chambéry (Savoie) behind the slogan “Angry Registrar”, according to the court’s X/Twitter account.
The Ministry of Justice, for its part, recalled on Tuesday that “discussions are underway between the management of judicial services (DSJ) and the trade union organizations, relating in particular to the index and statutory revaluation”, after the spontaneous movement of June. The negotiations “are not progressing as quickly as they should”, nevertheless estimated Hervé Bonglet, recalling that the draft budget for justice was to be finalized “next week”.
The main demand of the majority union aims to obtain the transition of all clerks to category A of the public service, i.e. 10,000 to 11,000 people. If the principle of moving to category A, synonymous with better remuneration, is acquired for clerks, we do not know how many will be affected in 2024.
A very popular movement a year ago
“Clerks are paid approximately 13% below other B categories (equivalent categories) in the public service. The justice programming law will ratify the creation of justice attachés (contractual) who will be positioned on the same missions as the clerks and paid more than the latter,” detailed Hervé Bonglet. “The management of judicial services, the ministry and the civil service recognize the need for recognition of clerks but do not commit to what we want,” he lamented.
At the beginning of July, after a rare call for a national strike, thousands of clerks gathered in front of numerous courts, brandishing signs proclaiming “In the face of contempt, anger”, “Injustice in justice” or “The slap of too much “.