Four years ago the Connecticut General Assembly agreed to provide Connecticut judges with four 3 percent annual wage increases in 2013 through 2016. The 2016 increase was put off until July 1, 2017, and now that final 3 percent is the subject of debate given the state's budget crisis, though it went into effect automatically July 1. Even if the increase remains, it is feared that there will be a backlash from the judicial branch unions.

Our judges are underpaid in terms of their peers across the country. The General Assembly voted these raises four years ago. It is right that the promise should be kept, and the judicial unions should support it.

Gov. Dannel Malloy predicted earlier that the fourth and final increase would not be made, but the General Assembly failed to act in time. As the governor put it: “There are judicial branch unions that have to vote on this [the wage and benefit concessions for the unions], and imagine how you would feel about voting on that agreement in a context of which other people are receiving $400-a-month raises. I think it's a tough signal to send.”