Criminal barristers in England and Wales vote to go on indefinite strike

theguardian.com:

Criminal barristers in England and Wales have voted to go on indefinite strike from next month, the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has said.

The industrial action over a pay dispute will begin on 5 September, the day the next Conservative leader and prime minister is due to be announced.

Members of the CBA have been stopping work on alternate weeks but were balloted on whether to escalate the industrial action with an indefinite, uninterrupted strike.

The ballot closed at midnight on Sunday and the result was announced on Monday morning.

The CBA is asking for a 25% pay rise for legal aid work, when they represent defendants who could not otherwise afford lawyers.

Criminal barristers are due to receive a 15% fee rise from the end of September, with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) saying the increase would mean the average barrister earns about £7,000 more annually.

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The CBA vice-chair, Kirsty Brimelow QC, said this was “last-resort action” over a demand for less money than it costs the government for the courts to sit empty.

She told BBC Breakfast: “The effect [of the strike] will be that the courts continue to sit empty with trials and cases not being heard. It is a last-resort action.

“The remedy is for an injection of money into the backlog of cases which currently stands at 60,000 cases, that barristers are working on that will cost the government only £1.1m per month. Currently, it’s costing much more for the courts to sit empty.”

According to MoJ figures, more than 6,000 court hearings have been disrupted a result of the dispute over conditions and government-set fees for legal aid advocacy work.

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