3 of Education to the municipal sector. The measure was a policy decision adopted by the military government of the day, founded on principles of decentralization and privatization. Thus, in the municipalization of the primary education system it was expressly envisaged that under the municipal regime teachers would have the same pay and benefits that they had been enjoying prior to then. The petitioners clarify that the provisions that governed the process were mandatory, not voluntary, for teachers and municipalities. 11. The petitioners say that payment of welfare benefits was unilaterally suspended by the municipalities. As a result, on March 28, 1994, the 80 teachers in Chañaral filed suit with the First Magistrate's Court for Labor Matters and, in a final judgment of July 20, 1994, it was ordered that they be paid the sums owing, the amount of which was to be determined in an incidental manner when the ruling was enforced. 12. They add that after incidental compliance with the judgment was requested, experts were appointed and, in August 1999, the Municipality of Chañaral and the victims signed a payment agreement. However, after the municipality failed to honor the agreement, the Chañaral teachers asked the court to void it, which the court did by its decision of October 19, 2003. 13. On May 18, 2005, Chañaral Magistrate's Court for Labor Matters issued a ruling in which it ordered the municipality, through the mayor, to issue a mayoral decree for settlement of the sums awarded in the final judgment of July 20, 1994, in recognition of social security benefits. The claims of the petitioners were based on the apparent refusal of the Municipality of Chañaral to carry out that ruling. 14. They add that on June 16, 2005, the Municipality of Chañaral requested the tribunal to exempt it from compliance with the judicial decision as that would give rise to a dire financial situation, leaving the municipal coffers utterly depleted and the municipality completely unable to perform its basic functions. The petitioners say that in a decision of June 20, 2005, the tribunal heeded the request presented, and that they had no available recourse by which to compel the Municipality of Chañaral to comply with the order to issue the mayoral decree and, therefore, pay the Chañaral teachers the sums that they were owed. 15. In their initial petition, the petitioners noted that, in response to with the Mayor of Chañaral’s noncompliance and at the request of the teachers, the First Magistrate's Court for Labor Matters cautioned the mayor that failure to comply with the order would result in five days of arrest. A motion for preventive relief was brought against that compulsion measure and, as the motion was accepted, the caution was rendered ineffective. Thus, the petitioners say that as the proceedings evolved all the relevant and suitable remedies at each stage were invoked in an effort to get the State of Chile, through the Municipality of Chañaral, to comply with the orders of Chañaral Magistrate’s Court for Labor Matters. 16. In their communications of February 2007 and December 2008, the petitioners clarified that the complaint was being lodged on behalf of teachers in the Municipality of Chañaral and "all those teachers in similar legal positions; that is, with enforceable final court judgments ordering payment of their accrued welfare entitlements by the municipalities," of Chanco, Pelluhue, Parral, Vallenar and Cauquenes, who were individually named by the petitioners. 17. In addition, the petitioners noted that, as the State had mentioned, a record does indeed exist of the payments made to teachers in the municipalities of Chañaral and Vallenar in 2008. They added