A strike featuring two-thirds of court workers would mean a significant delay of all court operations, said chairman of Latvia’s Supreme Court Aigars Strupišs in an interview to LTV programme Rīta panorāma on Thursday, the 12th of January.
He explained that the management of the court system’s money was in the hands of executive power until now, and politicians
looked at court workers as though they were officials despite the major differences in responsibilities.
In the last 10-15 years the role of assistants of judges has increased significantly, as have requirements for candidates to become judges. Wages that were paid 20 years ago are not enough now. This means there has been development in this field. At the same time, we cannot compete with law firms or state administration in terms of wages.
Strupišs stressed that in the context of wages,
it is necessary to focus on employees who are paid EUR 900-1 200 «on paper».
Supreme Court’s chairman agreed that the wage reform implemented in state administration has helped considerably increase wages of ministers and Saeima deputies, adding that positive changes are expected for the court justice system, which is expected to come close to implementation of two verdicts of the Constitutional Court that specifically suggested organising judges’ wages.
However, in their letters, two-thirds of court employees mentioned going on strike if their wages are not increased. «If two-thirds of employees go on strike, it will significantly impact court operations, forcing judges to do all the work on their own.»
Strupišs hopes for development of political culture and understanding when it comes to sufficient funding for the court system. «If a person has a hole in their pocket and high income, the money will fall out. This means our first course of action is making sure the pocket is sewed properly instead of increasing income further. Reorganisation of the law enforcement institutions system should start with the foundation. Until then it will be difficult to combat different criminal activities, which, in turn, creates a negative influence on the country’s economy and budget,» said the chairman of the Supreme Court.
At the same time, there is a shortage of well-trained candidate judges. Strupišs explained that this issue needs to be resolved in cooperation with higher education institutions, because only approximately 7% of candidates pass. Until now the priority was organising the court selection system. This year, however, it is planned to focus on raising the quality of education.
Law science needs to have very strict requirements in order to provide candidates a clear picture of the entire law system, not just in a very narrow specialisation. Strupišs mentioned it is difficult for him to say where the problem is with the existing education direction. It is possible the problem is with students combining studies with work.
According to him, Latvia does have high-class law experts that can teach at the Justice Academy, the main objective of which would be preparing new judges. Some of these teachers could become good judges.
The chairman of the Supreme Court also said the court justice system is gradually moving towards shorter case review terms. However, there are multiple obstacles in the way.
As previously reported, court employees invite the government to secure wage increase for each court worker category in proportion to their respective qualifications by at least 24%. Strupišs previously said that the Justice Council frequently receives letters from assistants of first instance judges, who complain about their wages.
«They want wage increase of at least 30%. If they don’t receive this raise, they promise to go on strike,» said the chairman of the Supreme Court, adding that only the minister of justice has the authority to make decisions here.
Also read: Latvian State Police reports shortage of approximately 1 700 workers