The National Union of Public Prosecutors (SMMP) has announced a national strike for Friday, April 24 to demand that the new annual rotation of prosecutors “reverse the accumulation of functional areas assigned” to them.
This is a long-standing issue, involving prosecutors being expected to act in various courts (family and minors/ commerce/ labour), which the union does not agree with.
As preparations are now underway for the 2026 annual rotation, the union’s president, Paulo Lona, said today that a new strike is “a legitimate means of protest” and “a necessary, proportionate and urgent response” to ensure that matters change.
Lona explains that the requirement for prosecutors to ‘accumulate functional areas’ has simply led to ‘workload overload’, and represents the “final nail in the coffin of specialisation” within the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The issue saw a number of protests and strikes last year – and thus the union is keen to get its viewpoint over before a new rotation of prosecutors is drawn up.
Wednesday sees the meeting of the Superior Council of the Public Prosecution Service. It will be chaired by the Attorney General (Amadeu Guerra) and is responsible for approving the transfer of prosecutors, and rules governing them.
This is therefore “the right time” to reverse the rules, says Paulo Lona, stressing that they have already proved ‘unapplicable in practice in the districts’.
“It’s in the hands of the Attorney General to avoid this strike,” Lona insists.
Source material: noticiasaominuto
