Mexican Judicial Workers Launch Strikes Against AMLO’s Reform Push
(Bloomberg) -- Mexican judiciary workers went on strike Monday over President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s proposed overhaul of the country’s judicial system, which opponents say would undermine the judiciary and erode limits on the ruling party’s power.
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The strikes began just days after lawmakers from Lopez Obrador’s Morena party kicked off their push to win congressional approval for reforms, which would require the election of all Mexican judges by popular vote. Videos posted Monday on social media showed workers protesting on one of Mexico City’s main highways, and clashing with police trying to clear the road.
Several groups representing judicial workers voted late Monday to escalate the strike nationwide from Aug. 21, according to JUFED, a national association of judges that’s among those organizing the job action. Strikes started Monday in at least 16 states, Mexico City-based newspaper Reforma reported.
Saying that the reform has “serious implications” for the judiciary’s independence and Mexican democracy, JUFED expressed solidarity with the striking workers in a posting on X.
“This decision is of vital importance in the defense of the autonomy of the judiciary,” the group said after the vote late Monday.
During his daily press conference Tuesday, Lopez Obrador said he respects the strike but that Mexicans don’t care about it and it will even help his government.
Lopez Obrador had said Monday that judiciary workers have the right to protest, and argued that the reforms will benefit them. President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum, who is also a Morena member, said Monday afternoon that the reform proposal will not affect labor rights.
“The judiciary will now have more autonomy, when judges and justices are elected, because a judge will now be elected by the people, just as the president is elected,” Sheinbaum said during a news conference.
The strike doesn’t affect all judicial proceedings and urgent matters will continue to be performed with staff on duty in all courts, Reforma reported.
AMLO, as the president is known, is seeking congressional approval of the reforms before he leaves office at the end of September.
(Updates to add vote to escalate strike in third, fifth; Lopez Obrador’s reaction in sixth paragraph)
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