Spanish ministers to meet today with National Road Transport Committee

Government ministers will meet today, Monday 21, with representatives of the National Road Transport Committee (CNTC)

A meeting will take place later today, Monday, March 21, between the Spanish government ministers and representatives of the goods department of the National Road Transport Committee (CNTC).

According to a spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, the meeting will address “the current situation in the transport sector”. Strike action promoted by the Platform in Defence of the National and International Road Freight Transport Sector was initiated last Monday 14, by the minority association of carriers.

Participating on behalf of the Government will be Nadia Calviño, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation; Maria Jesus Montero, the Minister of Finance and Public Administration; and Raquel Sanchez, the Minister of Transport, Mobility, and Urban Agenda.

The CNTC is the body that represents 90 per cent of the transport sector in Spain, and which the Executive considers a legitimate interlocutor in this area. This minority organisation that called the indefinite strike has no representation in the CNTC.

There is no support for the strike from the main employers in the transport sector – the CNTC, the National Federation of Transport Associations of Spain (Fenadismer), and the Spanish Confederation of Freight Transport (CETM).

Their action has had a serious effect on the supply chain across the country yet without the support of the unions. Throughout this last week they have denounced the aggressions and violent acts committed against carriers who have not followed the strike called by the platform.

Last week, the Government denounced that the strike is being encouraged by far-right groups such as the Vox political party, with the aim of creating instability and harming the Government. Minister of Finance, Maria Jesus Montero, affirmed this past Friday 18,  that the organisers seek to ‘blackmail’ the Executive.

At the end of 2021, the Government avoided a transport workers strike that had been threatened leading up to the Christmas period. An agreement was reached with the CNTC at that time.

A royal decree law on Measures to Improve the Sustainability of the Transport of Goods by Road and the Operation of the Logistics Chain was proposed at that time. This was validated by the Congress of Deputies this past Thursday 17 without any votes against, and with Vox’s abstention, as reported by 20minutos.es.

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