Cuts subsidies for employees, but leaves privileges for ministers

Iván Evair Saldaña

La Jornada Newspaper
Friday, January 10, 2025, p. 6

In a private session, the plenary session of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) yesterday approved adjusting its budget for this year according to the 12.1 percent cut imposed by the Chamber of Deputies. Among the changes, it applied decreases to its workers’ subsidies, but without touching the increased benefits of ministers and senior officials.

Court sources indicated that in the session, Yasmín Esquivel proposed no longer applying the 12 percent cut to the remuneration of ministers planned for this year, which the plenary session approved last November. However, his proposal was rejected by a majority vote.

In favor were Mario Pardo, Javier Laynez, Juan Luis González and Esquivel; against, Lenia Batres, Loretta Ortiz, Norma Piña, Margarita Ríos, Alberto Pérez and Alfredo Gutiérrez.

Last December, legislators reduced 714.4 million pesos from the budget requested by the SCJN for this year, authorizing them 5,208.5 million.

In a statement, the highest court indicated that it is the most significant cut in the last 15 yearsand in that scenario, he said that he has seen in the need to adjust spending forecasts that will affect programmed activities, operational plans and institutional projects, and that make full compliance with the provisions of the tenth transitional article of the constitutional reform of the Judiciary, relative to the full protection of rights, uncertain. of employees, in accordance with the general working conditions in force.

However, in an information card Lenia Batres Guadarrama revealed that the budget adjustments affected the resources allocated to benefits for workers with ranks MM14 to PO33 (assistant secretaries and operational staff), but the privileges of ministers and senior officials, prohibited in the Federal Republican Austerity Law.

At the proposal of Piña Hernández, head of the Court, it was approved to reduce the funds budgeted for subsidies to the workers’ cafeteria by 50 percent, since the fee they paid for food was 25 pesos, and it is projected that it will rise to more than 50. This measure aims to save 25 million 897 thousand 214 pesos.

It was also approved to deduct more than 158 million pesos that would be used to pay the year-end bonus for workers with ranks MM14 to PO33 and reduce parking spaces by 31 percent.

Lenia Batres revealed that Piña Hernández proposed maintain a specialized area for the care of ministers and former ministers, individualized separation insurance (which involves an expense of 204 million 988 thousand 949 pesos), cell phone service for senior officials (with an expenditure of one million 939 thousand 948 pesos) , the allocation of unnecessary vehicles (two armored vans for the daily mobilization of each robe), the allocation for meals for the ministers (outside the dining room) and the drugs that are not provided by private insurance for major medical expenses, among other privileges.