Angola’s courts went on strike on Monday over non-compliance with deal

Angolan bailiffs will paralyze all services from next Monday with a minimum due to alleged non-compliance by the employer, the industry union announced on Friday.

According to a statement from the Union of Angola Judicial Officers (SOJA), to which Lusa had access, a general meeting of workers was held on July 29 in the province of Benguela to “analyze the degree of non-compliance with the points contained in the agreement signed between the employer (Ministry of Justice and Human Rights) and SOJA” .

The document noted the failure to comply with the requirements for the improvement of technical and administrative services, the conditions of which are currently “inhuman and unthinkable” in several provinces of the country.

In addition to working conditions, the union also describes the lack of transport or the misuse of the available, forcing workers in some parts of the country to “carry in a taxi, several times on a motorcycle, at their own expense, books and identification cards, enduring various hardships.”

The note also cited a shortage of cleaning assistants and staff, calling for “the urgent need for an open tender for entry and equal access to opportunity, avoiding nepotism and nepotism.”

“The justice sector is understaffed, there are few of us, and many are retiring every year,” the statement said, which also reflects issues with pay provisions that “deserve careful attention.”

“It is necessary to determine the statutes of each class, including in them the necessary benefits, based on the complexity and prominence of each service. We still have a lot of employees not promoted, even with requirements. We don’t want a gradual promotion. At the national level, there are only about six thousand of us. Promotion is possible for everyone who meets the requirements,” he said.

The union highlights that the ministry’s current direction since 2022 has been open to dialogue with SOJA on three occasions in which all class issues were reported, with the portfolio owner assuming the issues would be mitigated. within one year.

“That is, until December 2023. Today, with only four months left, we continue to experience and even exacerbate problems at the level of services and employees. The current direction is simply not aligned with the promises,” the document states.

The union says the justice sector “collects millions that are deposited daily in the General Justice Repository”, but the destination is unknown because the officers live and work “in inhuman realities, under the watchful eye of ministerial officials”.

“Whenever there is a change in ministerial leadership, the new one that comes in always finds the vault empty and justifies itself with this pretext. Could it be that the repository lacks an effective audit to determine the causes of this legacy value leak? each direction and other situations?” SOJA noted.

The strike, which will take place from the 14th to the 18th of this month, does not apply to bailiffs seconded to the courts of general jurisdiction, in connection with the opening of an open competition for access to the courts of first instance, for promotion, thereby responding to one of points of the claim book sent to this body.