Sanitation Dept Employees Earn More than Judges - in New York

I blogged previously about complaints from New York state judges about inadequate pay. Now the NYT has an article about the work of the Judicial Compensation Commission - set up last year to deal with the issue. The commission has been receiving submissions from various parties about appropriate pay levels for judges. Amongst these is one from "a coalition of 12 judges’ organizations put[ing] forth 50 facts justifying a big raise, including salaries in New York City’s Sanitation Department: 50 employees in the department earn more than almost all New York judges and nearly as much as the state’s chief judge, Jonathan Lippman."

The current salary for judges is at about $136,000 - lower than Irish levels. The article notes criticism for any increase in pay given the state of New York's economy, echoing similar concerns about affordability in Ireland, although the attempt here is to cut pay, not to increase it.