Algeria: Judges suspend strike and future retroactive pay increases

The National Magistrates’ Syndicate (SNM) has suspended a two-week strike and said in a statement that the boycott of judicial work could be suspended from Wednesday.

In a statement, the SNM said that its decision was made after a meeting between the Minister of Justice, the President of the Bar Association and the head of the Supreme Court, who acted as an intermediary.

The agreement to end the strike included a promise of a workshop on the independence of the judiciary. Thus, the workshop will involve all concerned parties to enrich the documents associated with the judges’ focal demand and prepare projects related to it.

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The agreement also addressed the issue of the judges’ annual transfer movement in two ways. First, for the judges who were included and satisfied with the results of the transfer decision, they should join their new posts. Second, for the judges who protested against their transfer, they should be transferred to their new jobs for inauguration purposes only.

The SNM called on the concerned judges to file grievances with the Supreme Judicial Council and await a decision, several days later, stressing that it was agreed that no judge who participated in the protest movement and boycotted the judicial work would be affected.

The agreement also stipulated the implementation of the judges’ professional and material demands; i.e. increasing their wages with a retrospective effect since last January. Thus, the SNM also demanded the launch of a serious and impartial investigation into the facts related to the assault committed against striking judges inside the Oran judicial Council.