Link to the original news post
On the 2nd July, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Sparty officially registered a new business: “The Judiciary Labor[sic] Union”. He feels that the current payment offered to Judges and Justices for their expeditious work is simply not enough.
The compensations offered to Judges and Justices are defined in the Senate Payments Act, which specifies that Inferior Court Judges get 400 tau every two weeks (+50 tau per completed case) and that Supreme Court Justices get 500 tau every two weeks (+100 tau per completed case).
The Chief Justice seeks a radical increase in pay for the judiciary, namely a 212% increase in the salary for Inferior Court Judges, to be issued in 19% increases every week to avoid too swift change. This would result in the pay for Judges to eventually be 1248 tau every two weeks. Furthermore, he seeks to change the system where Justices that are also serving as Judges (such as himself) only get paid for one of their jobs.
He is hopeful to, at one point, have every member of the judiciary join his Union.
On the question of if the Union will ever go on strike, which would presumably gridlock the entire state of SimDemocracy with law enforcement officers being unable to get arrest warrants and such in critical situations, he has said that he does *not* plan on ever going on strike with the Union due to ethical concerns.
In contrast, Sparty wants the Union’s main means of achieving its ends to be lobbying the Senate to write its demands into law. How successful he will be in this endeavor is still an open question.
Full interview with Sparty
Q: Why did you found the judiciary union?
A: I feel present compensation doesn't match the work load.
Q: What goal are you trying to achieve with the judiciary union?
A: I'm hoping to lobby the Senate for a 212% salary increase for Inferior Court Judges, to be issued out in 19% per week incremental increases to avoid adversely burdening the State.
Q: How many judges/justices do you think will join the judiciary union?
A: I'm hoping to get 100% representation.
Q: What measures will you take to actually achieve your goals with the judiciary union?
A: The main focus will be to lobby the Senate.
Q: Do you plan on having the judiciary union ever go on strike? Don't you think that would be detrimental for national security?
A: This is an ethical question that has been raised before. I certainly do believe that organizational action such as a strike would be exploitative of the Judiciary's position as the isolated branch tasked with being the interpreter of law and arbiter of justice. As such, striking will not be something we intend to do.
As an aside, Justice Ivy Cactus has highlighted the hypocrisy of making Justices also Judges without paying them for doing both jobs. This is an additional avenue we intend to lobby for improvement towards.