Personnel from Mexico’s judiciary, including administrative staff and judges, gathered outside of Mexico City’s primary federal court last Thursday to instigate a four-day nationwide strike in opposition to proposed budget cuts. As reported by Jurist, this marked the commencement of the first such labor action within Mexico’s judicial system in decades.
On September 19, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration forwarded a proposal to the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Mexican Congress, to significantly reduce—by approximately 30 percent—the federal judiciary’s budget for the fiscal year 2024. Members of the judiciary on strike assert this action as the origin of their protest.
According to El Pais, on October 18, the Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved the cessation of 13 of the 14 financial trusts in place for current and former employees of the judicial branch, amounting to 15.28 billion pesos ($835 million). If the Senate approves the cuts, the Mexican opposition in Congress has expressed intentions to file a formal notice of unconstitutionality with the Supreme Court. The Senate is set to discuss the issue next week.
The General Secretary of the Federal Judiciary Workers Union has noted that the proposal will impact about 55,000 unionized workers who serve the Supreme Court, the Judiciary Council, and the National Electoral Tribunal. Further adding to the discontent, Article 100 of the Mexican Constitution stipulates that the Supreme Court of Justice should independently propose its own budget. In response to the workers’ objections, López Obrador asserted that the budget cuts would not adversely affect the judiciary.