Great transport strike blocks Spain, where companies do not accept to die in silence, as in Italy

Left and transport don't get along. As in Canada, also in Spain a great trucking strike brings the country to its knees, while the socialist government of Sanchez can do nothing but blame the "Right" and Putin for its own, marquis, mistakes.

Spain's already underdeveloped economy is in trouble after an indefinite strike by truckers halted several key sectors . Called by the Platform for the Defense of Road Freight Transport, the strike began on Monday and is followed by about 85% of smaller truck companies and self-employed truck drivers. They are protesting against rising fuel prices, unfair competition from large companies and poor working conditions.

Large logistics hubs like Mercamadrid have operated at half capacity over the past three days, with up to a 60% drop in the arrival of products such as fruit, vegetables, fish and shellfish . Catalonia, also served by France, seems to suffer a little less. Barcelona's Mercabarna wholesale market received 11% fewer fish and 33% fewer vegetables, especially aubergines, courgettes and peppers. As you might expect, panic buying has also exacerbated the shortages.

The main outbreaks are found in the southern and northern parts of the country, in regions such as Galicia and Andalusia. Some Cantabrian fishing fleets announced on Tuesday that they would shut down their business entirely as there was no way to guarantee their catch would arrive on the market. The same is happening with fruit growers in southern Spain. On Wednesday afternoon, the dairy industry said it would stop operating as of Thursday because it cannot source or distribute its products.

Some factories were also forced to close due to a lack of components. They include a sugar refinery belonging to Azucarera in Jerez de la Frontera and two steel production plants, one belonging to Arcelor Mittal in Asturias and the other to Acerinox in Los Barrios (Cadiz). An Opel factory in Zaragoza has also stopped its Line 1, where the Citroën C3 Aircross and the Opel Crossland are assembled, due to supply problems. T he supermarkets are starting to close.

The port of Bilbao, one of the main entry points into northern Spain, is paralyzed. “On the road, no goods leave the port of Bilbao, no one works in Santurtzi, the port is 100 percent stopped. No trucks are loading, ”a spokesperson for the Association of Independent Carriers of the Port of Bilbao told the EFE news agency. Other ports are almost closed.

The pickets took place outside the main logistics hubs, preventing non-striking truckers from reaching the pick-up point. Violence has erupted in some places . According to El Mundo, 1,700 trucks had already been vandalized on Thursday afternoon. At a picket line in the industrial area of ​​San Fernando de Henares, Madrid, two strikers were reportedly injured, one seriously, after an undercover policeman opened fire when one of them resisted arrest.

The Sánchez government responded to the crisis by strengthening security in logistics centers across Spain and strengthening police units on the country's road network to ensure the supply of essential goods and the right to work of carriers who do not support the strike. In total, the government has deployed another 24,000 police officers. Too bad that the cops in driving the trucks …

Following a banal pattern, Sánchez defined the members of the Platform for the Defense of Road Freight Transport "ultra who are replacing the spoken word with sticks, nails and stones". According to the Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, the strike is not having much impact while "it is quite clear" that behind it there is the right-wing political party VOX in strong climb and that, indeed, it supports the protesters.

One thing that is clear is that the strikers have many justifiable complaints, the most important of which are record gas prices and decades-high inflation . The truck driver sector is exceptionally vulnerable to sharp increases in fuel prices. In many service stations, petrol prices have already passed the 2 euro per liter threshold. In February, the consumer price index in Spain reached 7.6%, the highest level in 33 years and higher than almost all other Western European countries except Belgium.

Obviously Sanchez used the classic method of the socialists / democrats of the world: to blame someone else, specifically Putin “We have to tell the truth and not confuse the citizens. Inflation and rising energy prices are the sole responsibility of Vladimir Putin and his illegal war in Ukraine, ”he told parliament. Too bad this is not the case, except that Putin did not invade Ukraine a year ago and more, as Spanish inflation had been on the rise for some time.

The Spanish government, more or less like the Draghi one, has chosen a heavy hand against the workers, unleashing a harsh police repression . Yet the demands of the truckers are reasonable:

• An absolute ban on procurement of (road) transport service offers below operating costs. This is to try to prevent larger companies from excluding the prices of smaller operators from the market.
• Limit the subcontracting of transport contracts to a single contractor. Establish direct liability vis-à-vis the lead shipper in the event of non-payment of services to the carrier, giving the arbitration boards the legal capacity to exercise direct action against the lead shipper.
• Maximum payment term of 30 days for transport services, by law.
• Prohibition by law of loading and unloading by road hauliers and freelancers who drive their vehicles.
• A new legislation that provides and limits the loading and unloading of trucks to a maximum time of 1 hour from arrival, or from the agreed time.
• Legislation prohibiting large trucking companies from hiring bogus self-employed workers (i.e. workers who only work for one company but are treated as freelancers) to drive their trucks.
• Construction of new parking areas that meet the current flow of vehicles along the road network. It is not admissible to impose penalties for exceeding driving times, when the reason for this excess is motivated by the lack of safe places for stopping.

These seem reasonable requests, but for socialist governments the shortest way is through the hand: the one that holds the truncheon.

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The article Great transport strike blocks Spain, where companies do not accept to die in silence, as in Italy comes from ScenariEconomici.it .

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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/grande-sciopero-dei-trasporti-blocca-la-spagna-dove-le-aziende-non-accettano-di-morire-nel-silenzio-come-in-italia/ on Sat, 19 Mar 2022 18:38:12 +0000.