Spanish transport drivers to decide on June 26 whether to go on strike again

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On June 26, Spanish transport drivers will hold a meeting in which they will decide whether or not to go on strike again.

The Platform for the Defence of the Transport of Goods, the organisation of SMEs and self-employed Spanish transport drivers, that promoted the transport protests in March, has today, Friday, June 17, already agreed on June 26 as the date on which to discuss whether a strike should be called in July, according to larazon.es.

They met yesterday, Thursday, June 16, with representatives of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (Mitma). After the meeting, they assured that if they have not achieved positive guarantees before the end of the month, then strike action will resume.

Mitma’s commitment to the Platform after resolving the last strikes was to apply the principles of the Food Chain Law to the transport of goods, a law that was supposed to be ready to come into force before the end of July.

According to a note sent by the Platform board to its associates this morning, at yesterday’s meeting, the organisation conveyed to the Mitma representatives that carriers “are fed up with promises that are not quite effective and that despite the publicity that the National Committee of Transport by Road (CNTC) – the legitimate body of representation of the sector – intend to sell, we, the main affected, never finish palpating materially”.

The Platform warned that: “we are not worth proposals over time or empty promises. We carriers are not going to tolerate and delay any longer in time measures that, out of pure justice and necessity, should be put in place and applied against all those abusive shippers and without considering the economic suffocation that their high commissions entail, giving rise to our lack of profitability and, consequently, to economic bankruptcy”.

For these reasons, and due to the lack of knowledge of the exact date on which the Law that allows them to work without losses will be ready, they warned: “it is impossible for us to rethink maintaining the activity in the coming months”.

Therefore, the Platform has said it will consult its bases on June 26 “so that the reactivation of the indefinite transport strike – suspended at the beginning of April – is endorsed. If, as of June 30, we do not have the Law to not work to losses, then a Decree-Law that protects our operating costs when we perform a service”.

Manuel Henandez, the president of Platform, assured that they will maintain the vote of confidence in the Government “until the last moment”. As he stressed: “Our situation does not allow us to put up with this much longer. It is a serious financial situation. Hopefully, between now and the 30th we can count on that protection so that it can really be viable to work with a lorry”.

A threat to restart the strikes has been circulating for several weeks in the absence of news about the law to protect its costs. In fact, last Monday, in a video broadcast among his associates, Hernandez announced that he was starting up all the machinery to reactivate the strikes in July after the Mitma suspended the meeting that they had planned with them for that day and that, finally, was held yesterday.

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Written by

Chris King

Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com

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