CGPJ supports salary hike demand by judicial unions to avoid strike

The General Council of the Judiciary supports the demand for a wage increase that the unions of judges (and prosecutors) are going to table with the Ministry of Justice on May 3. In an agreement adopted unanimously, the plenary understands that the remuneration system for members of the judicial career is “the backbone of their economic independence, which is closely linked to independence in the exercise of judicial power”. The judges have been on indefinite strike since May 16 subject to the outcome of that meeting.

In the text he also states that the judiciary plays an essential role as an essential force in a democratic state of law. «As the Court of Justice of the European Union indicated in a judgment of 27 February 2018, referring to judges and magistrates, Member States have a duty to guarantee the independence of members of national judicial powers, even in their dimension of economic , therefore, paraphrases the CJEU, “the fact that they receive a level of remuneration commensurate with the importance of the work they perform is an inherent guarantee of judicial independence”.

“In this sense, the General Council of the Judiciary is called upon to monitor and guarantee the integrity and independence of the courts in the performance of their judicial functions, as well as to remember that the remuneration system for members of the judicial career constitutes An element constitutive of its economic freedom, which not only requires its regulation by means of a special law, but requires special attention in the treatment of the matter, consistent with its institutional status and the severe regime of incompatibilities” .

The Council has agreed to nominate members José Antonio Ballestero, Gerardo Martínez Tristan and Juan Martínez Moya to participate in the said Board on behalf of the Council to review and update career remuneration through an “objective remuneration system, equitable” can propose for. transparent and stable which adequately recognizes the responsibility and dedication of judges and magistrates”.