Labour reform

1. 1

   8 votes to 6. On 18 March 2025, the Senate's Seventh Committee shelved Petro's labour reform while the unions were marching for it.

2. 2

   12 yes-or-no questions. The government turned the shelved reform into a popular consultation, and the union confederations called marches and strikes to back it.

3. 3

   49 to 47. On 14 May, the Senate refused the consultation and, in the same session, voted 68 to 3 for the appeal that reopened the reform.

4. 4

   Decree 0639. Petro set the consultation for 7 August; the Council of State suspended the decree on 18 June, after the Senate had passed the reform.

5. 5

   Law 2466 of 2025. Signed on 25 June, it moved the night premium to 7 pm and raises Sunday pay in steps to 100% by 2027.

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If you're new to this, start with the fundamentals, from the vote goal to what the research says. Read the fundamentals

The Petro government's labour reform bill passed the House of Representatives and reached the Senate. On 18 March 2025, eight of the 14 senators on the Seventh Committee voted to shelve it, on the day union confederations, pensioners and movements were marching for it. Over the next three months the fight ran down two tracks: a 12-question popular consultation, which the Senate refused and the Council of State suspended, and the Senate itself, which reopened the bill on appeal and passed it. Petro signed Law 2466 on 25 June 2025.

8 to 6

votes in the Senate's Seventh Committee to shelve the reform, on 18 March 2025official Source

49 to 47

votes in the full Senate against a favourable opinion on the popular consultation, on 14 May 2025official Source

68 to 3

votes in the same session, on the same day, to accept the appeal that reopened the reform in another committeeofficial Source

57 to 16

Senate votes for the reconciled text, on 20 June 2025; in the House, the vote was 126 to 2official Source

From shelving to law

1. 11 Mar 2025In a televised address, Petro proposes a popular consultation so that citizens can decide the future of the reforms. The confederations call a national march for the day of the vote.
2. 18 MarThe Seventh Committee shelves the reform 8 to 6. In Plaza de Bolívar, Petro addresses thousands of people and announces that the consultation “arranca” (starts).
3. 22 AprMinisters Benedetti and Sanguino present the 12 yes-or-no questions: an 8-hour day shift between 6 am and 6 pm, 100% extra on Sundays, employment contracts for SENA apprentices, among others.
4. 30 Apr and 1 MayPetro posts an AI-made video calling people to the consultation on Labour Day. The government takes the questions to the Senate, which has 30 days to give its opinion.
5. 14 MayThe full Senate refuses the consultation 49 to 47; the government alleges fraud. In the same session, it accepts the Ávila and Flórez appeal 68 to 3, and the reform moves to another committee.
6. 19 to 31 MayThe government files a second consultation with 16 questions. The Fourth Committee passes a text the CUT calls regressive, and the confederations hold a 48-hour strike with TransMilenio blockades.
7. 11 JunPetro signs Decree 0639, calling the consultation for 7 August. The same day, the full Senate approves the reform's main report 67 to 25, and there are marches in six cities.
8. 17 and 18 JunThe Senate passes the reform in its final debate. The next day, the Council of State suspends the decree for lack of the Senate's favourable opinion.
9. 20 and 25 JunThe House (126 to 2) and the Senate (57 to 16) approve the reconciled text. Petro signs Law 2466 of 2025 at the Quinta de Bolívar in Bogotá.
10. Dec 2025 to Aug 2026The night premium starts at 7 pm from 25 December and Sunday pay rises to 90% in July 2026. Abelardo de la Espriella wins the runoff on 21 June and takes office on 7 August; on 20 August, his labour ministry revokes 11 labour circulars issued by the previous government (Resolution 2708).

Three layers

Government, allied parties and unions fought for the same reform with tools of their own. Lumping them together hides who decided what.

• The governmentPetro, labour minister Antonio Sanguino and interior minister Armando Benedetti proposed the consultation, drafted the questions and, without the Senate's opinion, signed the decree calling it; Eduardo Montealegre, later justice minister, helped build the legal case.
• The allied parties in CongressIn the Senate, Ariel Ávila (Alianza Verde) and Pedro Flórez (Pacto Histórico) filed the appeal that reopened the reform, and Fabián Díaz (Alianza Verde) protested the shelving. In the House, María Fernanda Carrascal of Pacto Histórico led the rapporteurs.
• The unions and movementsThe Comando Nacional Unitario (CUT, CGT, CTC and pensioners), with the Asamblea Nacional Popular, ONIC, FECODE and the USO, called the March marches, the May strike and the June day of action, and contested the text article by article on X and in the press.

What was specific to Colombia in 2025 and may be missing elsewhere.

Platforms

Streets and squares

The core of the pressure. In Bogotá, marches went from Parque Nacional to Plaza de Bolívar, opposite Congress; on 11 June there were marches in six cities and caravans to Cali, Medellín, Barranquilla and Bogotá.

X (Twitter)

The channel of Petro, Sanguino and Fabio Arias. The Comando Nacional Unitario's 29 May statement went out from Arias's account, tagging the CUT, CGT, FECODE and USO, and every Senate vote was commented on there within minutes.

Televised address

Petro proposed the consultation in an address broadcast on the night of 11 March 2025, a week before the committee vote.

Public media

RTVC, the public broadcaster, published explainers on the reform and the consultation. According to El Espectador, the government signed more than 63.5 billion pesos in advertising contracts with three public channels in 2024.

AI video

On 30 April, Petro posted on X an AI-made animated video in a Pixar-like style, calling people out for 1 May with the line “A la Consulta este 1 de Mayo”.

Government-aligned accounts and influencers

El Espectador identified 18 pro-government activists and influencers holding public contracts worth more than 700 million pesos in 2025, and about 100 X accounts using #ConsultaPopularSí between 2 and 4 April. The report does not say the contracts were for the consultation, and in August 2025, under a court order, the paper retracted its link between nine people and public contracts for lack of evidence.

Strike and stoppage

The confederations held a 48-hour strike on 28 and 29 May, with actions in several cities and blockades of TransMilenio, Bogotá's bus network.

Local conditions

• Petro had no majority in the Senate: according to EFE, the labour reform was the fourth proposal Congress sank, after the first health reform (April 2024), the education reform (June 2024) and the second financing law (December 2024).
• A popular consultation called by the president needs a prior favourable opinion from the Senate, under Laws 134 of 1994 and 1757 of 2015.
• To be valid, the consultation had to draw a third of the electoral roll, about 13.6 million votes, according to the Senate president himself.
• The national registrar estimated the consultation would cost about 700 billion pesos, an argument the critics used.
• The confederations already had a joint structure, the Comando Nacional Unitario, which brings together the three confederations and two pensioners' confederations.
• Business opposed the reform as a bloc: Fenalco, Acopi, Asobares and AmCham Colombia warned of higher costs and fewer formal jobs.
• Violence hung over the street: on 7 June 2025, senator and presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe Turbay was shot in Bogotá, and bomb and gun attacks in Cali and Cauca on 10 June left seven dead, on the eve of a planned Petro rally in Cali.
• The 2026 election was on the horizon, with the first presidential round on 31 May 2026.

When the committee shelved the bill, the government turned technical articles into yes-or-no questions and the confederations timed the street to the Senate calendar. Meanwhile, allied senators reopened the bill through the chamber's own rules.

Three fronts

The reform as questions

A bill with dozens of articles became 12 yes-or-no questions, each carrying a right people grasp at once: an 8-hour day shift, 100% extra on Sundays, contracts for apprentices, social security for app delivery riders.

The street on a fixed date

Each step in the Senate had a mobilisation date: the 18 March march on the day of the shelving, 1 May when the questions were filed, the 28 and 29 May strike against the Fourth Committee's text, and 11 June in the final stretch.

Two tracks at once

While the government pressed for the consultation, allied senators used the appeal provided for in the Senate rules, and the bill went back into debate in another committee. The law came out of that second track.

The campaign cycle

From March to June 2025 the cycle repeated with every Senate vote, with a fixed deadline at the end: the reform had to pass by 20 June.

1. Read the agenda Know when the committee or the full chamber will vote and who decides. In March, eight senators from six parties had signed the motion to shelve.
2. Call as a united front The confederations, the pensioners, the Asamblea Nacional Popular and ONIC signed the call together, with a time and a starting point.
3. Fill the square on voting day The march reached Plaza de Bolívar, opposite Congress, as the session met.
4. Respond within minutes Each result was commented on X by the president, the minister and the CUT leader right after the vote.
5. Turn it into questions When the bill stalled, the government put the same rights on a yes-or-no ballot.
6. Fight over the text In the new committee and on the floor, the CUT listed in public what it rejected (hourly contracts, a 4x3 week, outsourcing) and asked for the text the House had passed.
7. Close the reconciliation In the final week, the two chambers agreed a common text, and the CUT said it would back a reconciliation that restored rights.
8. Watch the rollout After signing, Petro asked for at least a thousand inspectors; the law comes into force in stages until July 2027.

And again.

This playbook draws on what the organizers themselves said: speeches by Petro and his ministers, the calls and posts of Fabio Arias and the Comando Nacional Unitario, and the Senate's notes on each vote. Almost all of it came through interviews and posts reproduced by the press. Government, parties and unions are kept apart, because their roles were different.

• Gustavo Petro

  President of Colombia, 2022 to 2026

  Proposed the popular consultation in a televised address on 11 March 2025, spoke to the march in Plaza de Bolívar on 18 March and signed the decree calling the vote on 11 June.

  Sources

• Antonio Sanguino

  Minister of Labour

  Defended the reform before the Senate and presented the 12 consultation questions with the interior minister on 22 April 2025.

  Sources

• Armando Benedetti

  Minister of the Interior

  Co-presented the questions and, after 14 May, argued that the Senate had not voted validly; the Senate secretariat rejected the argument.

  Sources

• Fabio Arias

  President of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT)

  Called the 18 March march, the strike of 28 and 29 May and the day of action on 11 June, and commented on every vote on X.

  Sources

• Comando Nacional Unitario

  The three union confederations (CUT, CGT, CTC) and two pensioners' confederations

  Signed the calls together with the Asamblea Nacional Popular; the 29 May statement also names FECODE, the teachers' union, and the USO, the oil workers' union.

  Sources

• Ariel Ávila and Pedro Flórez

  Senators for Alianza Verde and Pacto Histórico

  Filed the appeal that the full Senate accepted 68 to 3 on 14 May 2025, taking the reform out of the Seventh Committee.

  Sources

• María Fernanda Carrascal

  Pacto Histórico representative, lead rapporteur in the House

  Led the rapporteurs on the bill in the House of Representatives and publicly criticised the eight senators who signed the motion to shelve it.

  Sources

• Organización Nacional Indígena de Colombia (ONIC)

  National organization of Indigenous peoples

  Joined the call for the 18 March march alongside the union confederations and the pensioners' confederations.

  Sources

What the organizers said about the decisions they made. Paraphrased unless otherwise noted. Short quotes are kept in the original Spanish.

• Calling the 18 March march in a CUT video: “estamos convocando a una amplísima movilización en todo el país” (we are calling a very broad mobilisation across the country).

  Fabio Arias, CUT president, Infobae, 12 Mar 2025

• Days before the vote, he asked senators to change course: “Senadores: Aún hay tiempo para reflexionar y rectificar” (there is still time to reflect and correct course).

  Antonio Sanguino, Minister of Labour, Infobae, 12 Mar 2025

• In Plaza de Bolívar, right after the shelving: “Arranca la consulta popular. La movilización es permanente y creciente” (the consultation starts; the mobilisation is permanent and growing).

  Gustavo Petro, president, Radio Nacional de Colombia, 18 Mar 2025

• In the same speech, about the senators: “Cada senador debe recordar que es un simple representante del pueblo” (each senator is just a representative of the people).

  Gustavo Petro, president, Radio Nacional de Colombia, 18 Mar 2025

Pick the moves that fit your context and add them to your kit.

1. Turn the bill into yes-or-no questions

   Rewrite a long reform as short questions, each with one right and one number. In 2025, the Colombian government drew 12 questions from the shelved reform, from the 8-hour day shift to 100% extra on Sundays.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   Works when the bill has concrete measures that people recognise in their own jobs.

   Don't use when

   Fails when the questions become a promise of a vote the law does not allow: the Colombian consultation never reached the ballot box.

   1. Week −12 List the articles and pick the ones that touch pay, hours or contracts
   2. Week −11 Write one question per right, with a number in each
   3. Week −10 Test the questions with workers from three different sectors
   4. Week −10 Check with lawyers what the law lets you do with them
   5. Week −8 Publish the questions as a guide to the reform, with the original text alongside
   6. Week −6 Use the questions in street conversations and march materials

   Team

   • Drafting: turns articles into questions
   • Legal: checks requirements and deadlines
   • Testing: listens to workers before publishing

   What to measure: People who left their contact details in a street conversation or at an action after hearing the questions, counted weekly.

   Risks to watch: Promising a vote that depends on another institution can end in frustration: say from the start what the requirements are and what happens if they are refused.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

2. Marches timed to the parliamentary calendar

   Put each mobilisation on the day parliament decides. In 2025, the confederations marched on the day of the shelving, on 1 May, in a strike against the new committee's text and on 11 June, nine days before the final deadline.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   Works when voting dates are public and there is a front of organizations able to call people out within a week.

   Don't use when

   Does not prove the street changed votes: in March the committee shelved the bill with the march at the door.

   1. Week −8 Build the voting calendar and update it every week
   2. Week −6 Agree with the organizations who signs each call
   3. Week −1 Announce date, time, starting point and route a week ahead
   4. D-day week March to the spot nearest the session at the time of the vote
   5. D-day week Publish the tally with names and parties right after the vote
   6. D-day week Set the next date before the action ends

   Team

   • Agenda: follows parliament's order of business
   • Call: settles signatures and route
   • Tally: publishes the votes with a source

   What to measure: People present at each action, counted per city with the same method, and new sign-ups to the alert list the next day.

   Risks to watch: Those who vote can say they will not bow to pressure, as the Senate president did: call people out to follow and hold them to account, and don't announce that the street will decide the vote.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

3. Reopen the bill through the rules

   Use parliament's own procedures when a committee kills the bill. On 14 May 2025, two allied senators' appeal passed 68 to 3, and the reform went back into debate in another committee until it became law.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   Works when the rules provide for an appeal or another route and there are enough votes on the floor to accept it.

   Don't use when

   Fails if the campaign treats parliament only as an enemy: the appeal needed votes from several parties.

   1. Week −10 Read with your advisers what the rules allow after a bill is shelved
   2. Week −9 Find legislators from different parties to sign the appeal
   3. Week −8 Count the floor votes one by one
   4. Week −6 Set the reference text the campaign will defend
   5. Week −3 Publish what changed in each new version
   6. D-day week Follow the reconciliation and say in public what you accept

   Team

   • Caucus: files the appeal and negotiates
   • Advisers: read the rules and deadlines
   • Text reading: compares versions

   What to measure: Offices contacted each week and legislators who confirmed their vote on the appeal, recorded in the tracker spreadsheet.

   Risks to watch: Negotiating the text can cost rights the base expected: publish what went in and what came out, as the CUT did in June 2025.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

4. Strikes and marches with public rules

   Write into the call itself that the protest is peaceful and within the law. After the TransMilenio blockades in May 2025 and the complaint announced by Bogotá's mayor, the CUT called 11 June as a peaceful, civic mobilisation.

   How to set it up, step by step

   Works when

   Always works, and counts for more when political violence is in the news.

   Don't use when

   Fails if the organization publicly defends blocking services its own base relies on.

   1. Week −3 Write the action's rules: peaceful, no transport blockades, authorised route
   2. Week −2 Train safety and care teams for each city
   3. Week −1 Tell the authorities and the press the route
   4. D-day week Read the rules at the start of the action and post them on X
   5. D-day week Log incidents with time and place and respond in public the same day

   Team

   • Action lead: route and rules
   • Safety: trained teams per block
   • Press: answers incidents with facts

   What to measure: Actions held without incidents, counted per city, and safety volunteers trained before each date.

   Risks to watch: A blockade can affect millions of people and bring lawsuits, as Bogotá city hall threatened: keep transport running and steer away anyone who wants to use the action for something else.

   Add to my kitIn my kit

What the government, parties and confederations put together, organized for you to copy in a campaign for a bill that has passed one chamber and stalled in the other.

What works anywhere and what depended on Colombia in 2025.

Choose your country

The sequence of the Colombian campaign, from the shelving to the law's rollout, as a checklist. Your progress is saved in this browser.

Five questions, each explained after you answer.

The rules below protect the campaign's credibility.

Follow the consultation rules

In Colombia, a consultation called by the president needs a favourable opinion from the Senate. The decree that tried to get around this was suspended by the Council of State.

Public money does not pay for campaigns

Public media and state contracts have their own rules. Using influencers hired by the government in a political campaign opens a legal and credibility flank.

Label anything made with AI

Every AI-made video should say so in the image itself, especially when it shows real people.

Peaceful protest without blockades

The call should say the action is peaceful. Blocking the transport your own base uses costs support and can bring lawsuits.

Real people only

No fake profiles, bots or coordinated accounts that hide who pays. A hashtag inflated by paid accounts is advertising and should be labelled as such.

Criticise votes, not people

Publish how each legislator voted, with the source. In a country with political violence, never expose home addresses or personal data.

Protect contact details

Anyone who leaves a phone number at a march needs to know what it is for. Ask for consent and do not use the list for anything else.

Local law

Rules on strikes, protest, consultations and campaigning vary from country to country. Check with a lawyer before you start.

It does not prove the street changed votes

The committee shelved the bill with the march at the door, and the appeal that reopened it passed 68 to 3, with opposition votes. Xinhua linked the reform's return to the threat of the consultation; Cepeda said Congress was not afraid of the march. No data separates one effect from the other.

The consultation never happened

The Senate refused it 49 to 47 and the Council of State suspended the decree. To be valid it would have needed about 13.6 million votes, and the registrar estimated the cost at about 700 billion pesos.

Business disputes the numbers

Fenalco estimated an 18% to 34% rise in labour costs; Asobares told a hearing in May 2025 that the extra burden threatened a sector employing more than 1.5 million people; AmCham asked for a reform that would not lose touch with business reality. No source read yet measures the effect on employment.

The decree cost credibility

Former interior minister Juan Fernando Cristo, the Greens, former president Ernesto Samper and 24 NGOs, including Dejusticia, opposed the decree, and the inspector general said there was no doubt the Senate had rejected the consultation.

Public money and influencers

El Espectador's report on 2025 contracts with 18 pro-government activists and influencers, and on the #ConsultaPopularSí hashtag used by about 100 accounts, cast doubt on the line between official propaganda and campaigning. The report does not tie the contracts to the consultation, and the paper corrected part of it under a court order.

Blockades come at a price

During the May strike, Bogotá city hall said more than two million people were affected by the TransMilenio blockades and announced a criminal complaint against the CUT president.

The law is not what the House passed

The CUT fought to the end against points such as the 4x3 week; the sources read do not say which stayed in the final text. In 2026, the Constitutional Court struck down a phrase in article 17 (C-081/26) and upheld a phrase in article 19 (C-030/26).

It does not decide the next election

On 21 June 2026, Iván Cepeda of Pacto Histórico lost the runoff by about 250,000 votes. No source read links the result to the reform, and the new ministry revoked 11 labour circulars of the previous government in August.

This playbook was built from the Senate's official notes, statements by Petro, his ministers and Fabio Arias as reproduced by the press, the Colombia Politics analysis, rulings by the Council of State and the Constitutional Court, and reporting published between December 2023 and August 2026. All pages were accessed on 28 October 2026.

Updated 28 October 2026