“Unethical” to receive salary during PJF strikes, says Sheinbaum

Mexico City. By reiterating that the judges who have joined the strike in the Judicial Branch, against the reform of this sector, should not receive their salary while they are not performing their duties since “it is unethical,” the president-elect, Claudia Sheinbaum, stressed that there are also rules for initiating strikes or stoppages, and “this strike that they are carrying out is not legal.” She argued that with the initiative in this matter, “finger pointing” from the presidency for the appointment of ministers will be avoided, so the Judicial Branch will have greater autonomy.

The future president said on Thursday that there are laws and established norms for a strike, so “this issue of you going on strike as a judge and collecting your salary, is even unethical, no, because they earn 150 thousand pesos, yesterday they told me it was 200 thousand. We are reviewing how much a judge earns, because we already know that ministers are big talkers, but so are judges. So, how can you go on strike and still receive 150 thousand pesos a month?”

He also said that if a survey were conducted among the population, “I believe that 90 percent would say: they will go on strike, yes, but they should not receive their salary.”

“We have to see what the law says, who regulates public servants, because they are public servants, and I think that we have to make a call, because this strike that they are carrying out is not legal,” he said.

At a press conference at his transitional house, he called on the population to thoroughly review the opinion that is expected to be voted on by the Constitutional Points Committee of the Chamber of Deputies on the reform of the Judicial Branch. He emphasized that many of the points “are very worthwhile” to analyze, since they are the product of the forums that were held in the Congress of the Union.

While in the original proposal sent by the President of the Republic, “only the executive, legislative and judicial branches appointed their candidates for the different elected positions, whether judges, magistrates or ministers,” after the forums a series of requirements and mechanisms for the defection of candidates were added.

In this way, it is projected that the Powers of the Union must establish “public, open, transparent, inclusive and accessible mechanisms that allow the participation of all interested persons,” said the president-elect.

To this end, each branch will form an evaluation committee. In the case of the Executive, she said that she would have to form an evaluation committee made up of five people recognized in the legal activity that will analyze the files of the candidates, and “identify the best evaluated, who have the necessary technical knowledge to perform the position and have distinguished themselves by their honesty, good public reputation, competence and academic and professional background in the exercise of legal activity.”

He stressed that it would no longer be the presidency that would make the decision.

“It is no longer the president who decides who her acquaintances are, or who I would consider to be the best candidates, but rather it is an open call. This is very important because part of what our adversaries have been saying is that the autonomy of the Judiciary is going to be lost, that the president is going to appoint all those who come… No; that is how it is now, because now the Executive sends a shortlist to the Senate, but if it does not decide by qualified majority, who appoints? The president or the president.”

So far, he continued, the president “has a hand in appointing his ministers.”

However, with the reform, “the president will no longer have a say in appointing her ministers. It is a very transparent process of reviewing resumes, of reviewing the reasons why someone wants to be a minister, magistrate or judge, and from there, from the finalists, there is still an additional process to prevent it being a finger-pointing by friends, acquaintances of the president.”

With this mechanism, he assured that the Judicial Branch “has more autonomy.” After describing this way of defining ministers, judges and magistrates as a novel process, he explained that, in addition, they must meet different requirements. From a high academic average, to letters of recommendation from neighbors who know their public reputation.

Sheinbaum Pardo recalled that part of the content of the ruling outlines the use of part of the trust funds of the Judicial Branch of the Federation for the election of ministers, magistrates and judges, resources that remain in litigation.

-And if the issue of trusts is not resolved?- he was asked.

-“No, it is in the Constitution. The Constitution is the Constitution,” he replied.

He added that the president of the National Electoral Institute has calculated that between 5 and 7 billion pesos will be required for these elections.