Workers at Mexico’s federal courts kick off 4-day strike over president’s planned budget cuts

By DANIEL SHAILER
Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Hundreds of judicial employees, from administrative staff to judges, took to the steps of Mexico City’s largest federal court to kick off a national, four-day strike against proposed budget cuts. In the first labor action to emerge in Mexico’s judiciary in decades, workers Thursday began protesting planned reductions in funding for the judiciary in next year’s federal budget. Pending Senate approval next week, 13 of the 14 special funds used to finance employee benefits will be closed. The lower house of Congress approved the measure on Tuesday. Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador blamed senior legal officials for inciting the strike.