President Alvaro Uribe declared a ninety-day state of emergency
Thursday, which will allow a selected council to fire and replace
striking judicial workers as it sees fit. The judicial strike has lasted more than a month already.
The first declaration of the government under the new conditions gave power to the Superior Adjudication Council to name and replace judicial functionaries, a tactic intended to relieve the current 35-day judicial strike.
The government and judicial union Asonal have not been able to reach a deal about the wages of judges and court workers, despite numerous rounds of talks.
Asonal has called the state of emergency illegal and says the strike is a “constitutional right”.
According to reports the strike has affected hundreds of thousands of Colombians.