(Reuters) Athens – Greek judges went on strike on Monday, kicking of a series of walkouts by state employees ranging from doctors to tax officials in protest at wage cuts and labor reforms demanded by international lenders in exchange for more aid.
Judges were hearing only cases nearing the statute of limitations and are expected to continue their labor action throughout this week, potentially delaying thousands of cases waiting to be heard by the already overstretched legal system.
“We are determined to defend our current wages,” the judges’ associations said in a statement. “We won’t tolerate the downgrading of the judges.”
Judges say they have already seen their salaries reduced by as much as 38 percent and have warned that relentless pay cuts were putting their constitutional position as guarantors of the court system under threat.
“We call on the state not to forget that it has the obligation of protecting the personal and operational independence of judges,” the group of associations said.
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When the judges go on strike, then martial law is inevitable, because civil law will have lost the last remnants of its voice. What can happen in Greece can happen elsewhere, even in the US.
WE HAVE BEEN WARNED
LT
~Sic Semper Tyrannis!
