Personnel from Mexico’s judiciary, including administrative staff and judges, gathered outside of Mexico City’s primary federal court to launch a four-day nationwide strike on Thursday in opposition to proposed budget cuts. The gathering marked the start of the first such labor action within Mexico’s judicial system in decades.

On September 19, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s government introduced a proposal to the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Mexican Congress, to enact a substantial reduction—approximately 30 percent—of the federal judiciary’s budget for the fiscal year 2024. Members of the judiciary on strike cite to this action as the root of their action.

Further, Mexican news source El Pais reported that, on October 18, the Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved the elimination of 13 of the 14 financial trusts in place for current and former employees of the judicial branch in the amount of 15.28 billion pesos ($835 million). The Mexican opposition in Congress signaled that it will file a formal notice of unconstitutionality with the Supreme Court if the Senate approves the cuts. The Senate is set to consider the issue next week. 

The General Secretary of the Federal Judiciary Workers Union said the proposal will directly affect 55,000 unionized workers who work for the Supreme Court, the Judiciary Council and the National Electoral Tribunal. Additionally, under Article 100 of the Mexican Constitution, the Supreme Court of Justice is meant to independently propose its own budget. Despite the concerns raised by workers, López Obrador assured the workers that the budget cuts would not affect the judiciary.