Justice officials attack the new Courts of First Instance: "It's chaos"

PalmMost officials in the Balearic Islands' Justice administration have considered the implementation of the new Courts of First Instance to be a "failure" and do not believe they improve the public service offered. This is according to a survey conducted among 442 justice administration workers in Mallorca, Menorca, and Eivissa by the CSIF union.

The overall assessment of the implementation of the Courts of First Instance is barely 1.9 points out of a possible 4, while the perception that this new model is improving public service stands at 1.96 points out of 5. Thus, the union has emphasized that those who daily sustain the functioning of the courts and common services "do not believe in this reform" driven by the efficiency law and do not consider it to improve justice.

The failing grade extends to other essential aspects of the new system, such as coordination between units, which has scored 1.74 points out of 5; workload distribution, with 1.83 out of 5; and the improvement of efficiency in processing, with 1.84 out of 5. "Far from rationalizing work, the responses make clear a model that generates even more confusion, more overload, and more day-to-day problems," said the union organization. CSIF has considered it "especially serious" that the Courts of First Instance have been implemented "without minimal preparation," as 28.7% of the surveyed staff say their workstation was ready on the first day. That is, almost seven out of ten workers joined the new model under "clearly deficient" conditions.

Adding to this, only 29.1% know the job description (RPT) of their judicial district and only 36.6% claim to know any operating protocol for the Courts of First Instance. For the union, a process that has started "without information, without transparency, and without clear instructions" cannot be "sold as modernization." Another piece of data that the organization has considered "alarming" is that 52.8% of respondents claim to receive "contradictory" instructions in their daily tasks, which would highlight the "functional insecurity, hierarchical descoordination, and organizational conflicts" they face.

The previous information obtained 1.93 points out of 5, while the training received remained at 2.07 points out of 5. The results are repeated in the three islands analyzed, which for the union would demonstrate that they are not isolated or isolated cases but a "structural and generalized" problem that covers the entire archipelago. The CSIF has demanded that the Justice administration "stop glossing over" the situation, acknowledge the "failure" of the new model, and implement an urgent correction of the detected shortcomings. "A new judicial organization cannot be built at the cost of internal chaos, improvisation, and deterioration of working conditions. And professionalism and responsibility cannot be demanded of the staff while the administration responds with disorder, opacity, and lack of foresight," the union concluded.