The Judiciary Council supports the strike in jurisdictional bodies

Gustavo Castillo Garcia

The newspaper La Jornada
Saturday, August 24, 2024, p. 6

By four votes to three, the plenary session of the Judicial Council endorsed the position of Minister Norma Piña Hernández, who considered that the strike of activities in the jurisdictional bodies is a right of judges and magistrates, and rejected the proposal that activities should be reactivated.

The Judiciary announced that they are being carried out actions to establish communication with the representatives of the unions of workers of the Judicial Branch of the Federation (PJF), as well as with the board of directors of the National Association of Circuit Magistrates and District Judges of the PJF (Jufed), which will allow to ease the de facto situation that prevails in the jurisdictional bodies, as well as promote a channel of communication with the members of the next legislature of the Congress of the Union.

Sources from the Judiciary indicated that at the end of a private session lasting more than three hours, the votes of councilors Sergio Javier Molina Martínez, Lilia Mónica López Benítez and José Alfredo Montalvo Martínez joined Piña Hernández’s position.

Those who spoke in favor of restarting activities and setting a deadline for the strike were councilors Bernardo Bátiz Vázquez, Celia Maya García and Eva Verónica de Gyvés Zárate.

While councillors Molina Martínez, López Benítez and Montalvo Martínez, as well as Minister Piña, confirmed that the payment of salaries to those who are unemployed will not be suspended.

The members of the Judiciary jointly issued a circular in which they reiterated that they have taken note of the notifications made by the heads of courts and tribunals informing them of the strike.

Likewise, allegedly before similar situations –although it is the first time that the bodies that make up the CJF have stopped work indefinitely–, they indicate that endorsed the right of all workers of the Judicial Branch of the Federation to demonstrate peacefully and within the legal framework, interpreting the light of the constitutional principles that govern the jurisdictional work, including the continuity of the public function of administering justice that the Constitution mandates us..

The counselors Bernardo Bátiz, Celia Maya and Eva Verónica de Gyvés, expressed their disagree with what was stated by the majority of the advisorsbecause they proposed: The public servants of the PJF have the right to group together, express their opinions and defend their rights in the face of the project of reforms to the Judicial Branch and in the face of the proposal that judges be elected..

But, they explained, These rights must be exercised in the terms and within the limits of Article 9 of the Constitution, peacefully, with respect and without violating the current norms. Therefore, they cannot refuse to fulfill their work of administering justice, and this cannot be paralyzed or restricted..

Establishing that It is the responsibility of the CJF to ensure that the justice service is provided in accordance with the terms of Article 17 of the Constitution and if the service is interrupted, it is the Council’s obligation to act accordingly by applying the laws in force..