🚨 Spanish truckers vote in favour of a new national indefinite strike
Stoppage to begin on Sunday. Government not sure what they want this time.
Self-employed Spanish truckers from Plataforma Nacional have voted in favour of starting a new indefinite stoppage across the country.
⏰ When…until when..?
The new stoppage will begin at midnight on Sunday (from Sunday, Nov. 13 through to Monday, Nov. 14). Plataforma boss Manuel Hernández announced the decision shortly after 12 p.m. at a press conference in Getafe (Madrid). In March, it was also an “indefinite” strike but in the end lasted two weeks.
📈 How much support?
86% of truckers who participated in the vote held this weekend have voted in favour of putting the brakes on haulage activity again, Plataforma announced. It is not clear how many people voted, how many voted in person and how many online, or how much support they will get this time from other trucker unions and the general public.
💥What is at stake?
During the nationwide stoppage in March, which the government tried hard to brush off as a few self-employed truckers, businsess leaders in agriculture, transport and distribution estimated €600 million in losses and 100,000 jobs at risk. The chairman of Spanish business leaders’ assocication CEOE said in the spring: “we can’t allow the country to come to a standstill”. Car factories stopped production and there were serious problems in the fresh produce sector.
🏛️ Initial government response
Transport Minister Raquel Sánchez said on Monday that she was “worried” by the idea of a new truckers strike in Spain and asked them to be “responsible”. Talking points sent along by the Transport Ministry say “an ambitious package of measures”, including new legislation, has already been put in place over the summer. The current situation is much more “balanced” than in the spring and drivers should make formal complaints to inspectors about infringments of the new rules. The government is not really sure what the truckers want this time round.
🚚 So what’s the problem?
Truckers said in a statement last week that the government and its inspectors were not doing enough to implement the new rules, denounced the coercion of some drivers attempting to protest when faced with new-rule-breaking and warned of dangers on the road for all if a new maximum weight for lorries is introduced.
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