The ministers of Mexico’s Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) agreed to reduce their own salaries by 25 percent, giving in to the “republican austerity” measures implemented by the new government of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
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In a public statement, the court announced the decision comes after “a new austerity policy promoted by the President of the SCJN and will be complement by other measures to be made public at the proper time.”
The new salaries were approved during a private meeting Tuesday morning after weeks of quarrel with the president. The 11 ministers that make up the court agreed to reduce their monthly salary from US$13,893 to US$10,411.
Also, obeying to an “equal position, equal salary” policy, all ministers will earn the same, regardless of their seniority. This means their annual income will be reduced from US$166,720 to US$125,228.
But the numbers presented above don’t represent the total income of ministers. Taking into account benefits and insurance payments, among other things, ministers earned about US$29,853 every month in 2018, more than double their base salary.
It’s still unclear if the 25 percent decrease announcement will include such benefits or if the “other measures” will take them into consideration.
Days after being sworn in on Dec. 1, the government of Lopez Obrador announced a new Income Law stating that no public servant could earn more than the president, who had just reduced his salary to US$5,300, about 60 percent less than his predecessor Enrique Peña Nieto and half of what the ministers earn.
The law sparked controversies within the SCJN, accused by the president of earning “offensively high salaries.” The court rejected the accusations and suspended the bill as it was being debated in the Senate, arguing the separation of powers didn’t allow the president to establish their incomes.
“The most important thing is to defend our independence, real and absolute,” said Luis Maria Aguilar, then president of the SCJN.
After the court’s decision, Lopez Obrador told supporters at a public rally that the days of having a “rich government with a poor population” had to end.
“The guys on top have a great life,” he said. “Now they’re angry because they were earning 600,000 pesos a month. And that’s all over.”
When Arturo Zaldivar was sworn in as the new president of the court on Jan. 2, he announced there would be a dialogue with the executive and legislative powers.
Although the executive power can’t legally reduce the salaries of the judicial branch, “that doesn’t prevent the Supreme Court of Justice, making use of its independence and autonomy over the budget, from self-regulate the income of its members under the principles of efficiency, economy, transparency and honesty established by the constitution itself.”