Some 100,000 court cases have come to a complete standstill as Colombian judicial workers demanding higher pay enter their third week of strikes, local media reported.
The striking judges, prosecutors and other court workers demand salaries of 40,000 judicial workers of local courts to be leveled to that of the country’s higher courts.
Three weeks into the strike, vice President Angelino Garzon met with judicial workers union Asonal, but without results.
Colombia’s justice system has been clogged due to a lack of funds for years. A government reform proposal that pretended to releave pressure on the local courts was sunk earlier this year after Congress included amendments granting them special rights in the case of criminal prosecution. The judicial branch opposed the reform, saying it would make justice less accessible for the poor without solving the bottlenecks in the system.