Because the hauliers are on strike
Why are the hauliers going on strike? Because the costs have become so high that it is more convenient not to work than to work. What a paradox. A transporter who earns less when he transports than when he doesn't transport! We publish the letter sent by Alessandra Micelli, commercial director of the Italian Transportation to Blog Motori di Repubblica
Dear colleague,
I am writing to you as a former journalist, today a hauler by choice.
For days we have been witnessing a strike that is struggling to take off. There are those who are afraid of the consequences. There are those who cannot afford to sit still for even one day. There are those who fear that this strike, like so many others, will not bring any change.
Yet change would be needed. We are a sector unknown to citizens, but without which citizens would not survive. Food, medicine, fuel, but also pens, cell phones, clothes, glasses, newspapers, whatever comes to mind arrives in everyone's homes thanks to us. Yet, no one knows the ordeal that we are forced to endure every day. Over the past year, the price of diesel has grown by over 25%. 100% AdBlue. Spare parts between 20% and 70%. Unsustainable increases for those who cannot pass them on to the end customer.
Because unlike all other sectors, road transport suffers from an original sin from which it cannot free itself. And from which no one has ever tried to free him. Prices too low. Unfair competition. Crime. Evasion. Theft.
How is it possible that some hauliers manage to travel by charging less than what they spend? Who would sell something without making money, but even going to lose it? Only those who profit not from transport, but from something else. By stealing diesel, for example. A practice known to the entire sector and to which everyone, including clients, often chooses to turn a blind eye. In exchange, of course, for incredibly favorable prices. Or by deciding to transport, on trucks, not only the requested goods. But also something else. Maybe not very legal. Or by letting your employees travel far beyond the legal limits, squeezing them to the bone. Collecting fines and never paying them. Because companies close and open so much. And no one is ever punished.
This is why I speak of unfair competition. Of illegality. Of legal uncertainty. Fugitive from the law. This is why what is needed for road transport is not a State subsidy, as many believe. Road transport needs to comply with the laws. But for real. Trucking is used for a trip that costs 10 you can't ask for 8. Trucking needs that whoever asks for 8 is stopped. Because behind that difference there is no gain. There is lawlessness. There is crime. There is yet another demonstration that in Italy who steals wins.
That's why the hauliers are on strike. Because the costs have become so high that it is more convenient not to work than to work. What a paradox. A transporter who earns less when he transports than when he doesn't transport!
That is why we are on strike. Because rather than going to steal we prefer to hang up the keys. With the hope, we hope not in vain, of never having to steal ourselves too.
Alessandra Micelli
Italian Transport
Letter published on Blogmotori di Repubblica
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/perche-gli-autotrasportatori-stanno-scioperando/ on Fri, 25 Feb 2022 12:40:38 +0000.