“We don’t even have a hairdresser anymore.” The prosecutor’s office workers are on strike

Employees of the public prosecutor’s office in Prague announced a strike for Friday, Monday and Tuesday. They revolt against low salaries, which, according to them, do not correspond to the performance of the work “We get 22,000 CZK net,” saying, for example, the district prosecutor’s office for Prague 9. The aim of such a strike is to be. to increase wages, or to change the wage tables.

“We have not been satisfied with the salary for a long time. Especially when we have so much to do that we can’t even catch up on work during working hours,” said the security director of the district prosecutor’s office for Prague 9, JM, who did not want to give her full name, describing Seznam Zprávám. She herself earns CZK 30,000 a month and has a deputy head office.

He admits that he is doing relatively well compared to new people who came to work after school. “Other teenage girls can’t even live in a shared apartment. They are desperate. They cannot support themselves, not to mention their parents, who are retiring for example. Does anyone else know what is going on and what people are actually getting into their accounts? ” he despairs. “A colleague recently told me that she can’t even go to the hairdresser with her daughter,” she said.

She would think that it would be better if their salary increased by a full 10,000 CZK. “I am a positive person and I believe that maybe someone will wake up, hear us or read this,” said JM with the hope that some change would happen.

The State Attorney’s Office has long drawn attention to the salary situation of employees in the administration. “Of all the administrative staff employed here in Prague, we have 92 people in the seventh salary class, where the starting salary is full CZK 18,680,” describes Aleš Cimbala, speaking for the Municipal Prosecutor’s Office in Prague, it is difficult to find records or recorders under such conditions.

They also have problems filling the capacities of the staff at the District Council in Prague 9 that was mentioned. “We’re almost finding the people ourselves. But it is not guaranteed that those who join us will stay for long. Some come, stay two months, or would like to stay longer, but they don’t have the ability to learn. I had nerves even on weekends when I asked a young girl to come to work twice,” said security director JM, who has been in the post for 22 years. But she likes the job and is afraid that it would be difficult for her to find another job after she leaves.

Even public prosecutors, who are not allowed to strike by law, stood up for the workers. They support their demands and draw attention to their important role. “The current salary situation of these employees proves that there is a long-term underfunding of the public prosecutor’s office,” said the Union of State Attorneys.

The strike of the Prague public prosecutor’s offices also affects the public. Because administrative staff are not coming to work, for example, file offices would have to be closed. However, it will have the greatest impact on operations within the production office. According to Cimbal, in the days following the strike, it is likely that deadlines for processing applications will be extended.

“In terms of the public, this will be reflected in restrictions on the operation of post offices and restrictions on, for example, telephone connections. In any case, with regard to the urgent tasks that the public prosecutor’s office must perform by law and that there can be no deadline, the tasks and administrative tasks there will be ensured by the public prosecutors themselves, “said Cimbala. According to his data, about 94% percent of the workers participate in the strike, only 102 out of 109.

The only area that did not participate in the strike is Prague 6. In that case, the workers would lose money. But they support the strike. “During a strike, workers don’t get paid, and this is completely unaffordable financially for some. The second thing is that a strike immediately after the strike of the court workers would completely paralyze the activities of the court and the prosecutor’s office for a period of more than a week, which is already a time that ‘ threat to the operation of the rule of law, “explained Richard Petrásek, district attorney for Prague 6.

In the end, the strike only affects Prague because of poor communication. Jan Rampas, chairman of the department of courts and public prosecutor’s offices of the Trade Union of State Authorities and Agencies, learned about it immediately after it was announced.

“When I learned about it from the media, it was already clear that we would not have time to organize it on a national level,” he said on the organization of the event.

However, he agrees that the position of the staff of the public prosecutor’s offices is crucial. “We met at the department of our trade union, we assessed the situation and it is true that the situation is very grim so far and that administrative workers are getting very little salary for their work is very challenging and complex,” he concludes.