PJ inspectors declare overtime work strike

Inspectors of the Judiciary Police have scheduled a strike for overtime work starting April 1, due to the lack of regulation of the statute of special careers and the stagnation of negotiations with the direction and the Ministry of Justice.

According to the prior notice sent today to the newsrooms by the Union Association of Criminal Investigation Employees of the Judiciary Police (ASFIC/PJ), the strike starts at 00:00 on April 1st and lasts indefinitely, affecting the work of prevention units and all work performed outside normal working hours, that is, between 12:30 pm and 2:00 pm and between 5:30 pm and 9:00 am.

At issue for the trade union, chaired by Carla Pinto, is the lack of regulation of the professional status of special careers, which should have been carried out within the six months following its entry into force, that is, since July 2020; the lack of human and material resources; and the non-update by the guardianship of the reference of the values ​​of the picket and prevention supplements.

On this last point, the ASFIC/PJ highlighted that, in some cases, an inspector ends up receiving an amount below the guaranteed minimum remuneration in a picket service at the weekend, translating into an “illiquid and unworthy amount of 3.61 euros” per hour of work.

The refusal to authorize the transition to availability when a worker reaches 55 years of age and 36 years of service was also invoked.

Finally, the inspectors criticized “the absence of any effective progress in negotiations with the Ministry of Justice and the National Directorate of the PJ” to resolve the problems denounced by the workers of this police force, noting that “the country is going through a period of economic and social crisis resulting from rising inflation”.

On January 23, the president of ASFIC/PJ had already warned of the need for responses to the inspectors’ demands for problems that are nearly two decades old. “For 20 years the inspectors put the common good ahead of their personal interest and 20 years is enough time. The time has come for people to put their foot down, it is unsustainable to continue working like this”, said Carla Pinto to Lusa.

This notice covers employees in the criminal investigation career and the scientific police specialist career. The exception to this strike is the picket service of each unit, which, clarified ASFIC/PJ, “will guarantee the performance of all acts strictly indispensable to the satisfaction of imperative social needs that are intended to protect rights, freedoms and guarantees”.