Justice, requiem for the Process Office

The precarious workers of the Calabrian Ministry of Justice warn that 'stabilising only a part of the staff would mean drastically weakening the judicial offices, dispersing highly specialised skills, forcing hundreds of workers to leave the territory with heavy social and economic repercussions, slowing down a reform that has already produced measurable and concrete results'. Specifically, a reduction in pending proceedings that, according to disposition time - a duration indicator that measures the ratio between pending and finalised cases - is well over 25%, the target set by the NRP. Also in the area of civil justice.

In a letter signed by the precarious employees of Vibo Valentia, also addressed to the President of the Republic, it is also pointed out that 'uncertainty undermines motivation and jeopardises our ability to work serenely and quickly'. It also highlights the largely positive opinion expressed on the court by inspectors of the Ministry of Justice, 'despite the lack of staff and the turnover of magistrates in an area where trials of exceptional complexity and high social alarm are held'.

The work carried out by data entry operators (part of the Aupps) was decisive, who "have made a fundamental contribution to the justice system through support for chancery activities, user management and, above all, in the digitalisation process. Their work, in the civil sector, has taken our court,' the document goes on to say, 'from the last positions to the top ten in the Cisia 2023 ranking, while in the criminal sector, the start of digitalisation has allowed the use of the App platform without all the interruptions that occurred nationwide. Indeed, the platform referred to by the precarious trial office workers has experienced malfunctions and software problems in the past. The Cisia ranking, on the other hand, refers to the list of courts compiled by the Council for Digital Justice and Innovation, which reports improved performance for digitisation and data entry operators.

"It is only a few days ago that the government's intention is to stabilise only 6,000 units - including all the professional figures hired under the NRP - through the completion of a further test, essentially selective, harbinger of internal disruption and further sacrifices, with the serious risk of thwarting the work done so far," continue the Aupps of the Vibonese court. From their point of view, the failure to stabilise all the staff, "either through direct recruitment or through an extension, even partial, of the contingent in service, would result in such a drastic reduction in the workforce as to entail, in fact, the death of the trial office, the weakening of judicial offices, the uprooting from the territory of thousands of workers (with consequent damage to the local economy and family dynamics), the waste of acquired skills and the structural slowing down of the reform of Justice".

The request is clear and articulate: 'To safeguard a reform that this government has helped to bring about and which, to date, has worked, clearly improving the justice sector. To be considered not as mere variable budget numbers, but as qualified human capital, already trained and operational, which has contributed decisively to the success of the reform". The appeal is more concise: 'Stabilise us all or the reform collapses'.