The autonomous carriers who have been protesting for a week with strikes, blockades and pressure on the truckers who continue to work are not the only ones affected by the rise in fuel prices. The organizations of self-employed workers recall that this escalation of prices directly hits hundreds of thousands of people of their group (800,000, according to UPTA; 1,100,000, according to ATA) and demand immediate measures from the Government to help them.
ATA and UPTA agree that the Executive should lower the taxes on fuels, but they also propose other lines of action: UPTA asks that professional diesel (the refund of part of the tax on hydrocarbons from which carriers benefit) be extended to other groups that also use their vehicles a lot for work, such as plumbers or painters; ATA, for its part, asks for “special aid” for this type of sector also affected, such as taxi drivers or commercial agents, as well as for those affected by the rise in prices of fertilizers and cereals, linked to energy costs and the invasion of Ukraine. In addition, the association chaired by Lorenzo Amor also demands the implementation of the RED mechanism, the new erte contemplated in the labor reform to protect sectors hit by a crisis, and extraordinary aid for cessation of activity (the “stop of the self-employed “) for those who have suffered a drop in activity of 50%.
Both organizations are separated on what to do with the reforms underway that concern the self-employed. ATA, linked to CEOE, believes that they must be stopped: it asks for the postponement until 2025 of the increase in contributions planned for next year within the framework of the pension reform, and also postpone until 2025 any reformulation of the contribution system of the self-employed, who are currently negotiating with the Ministry of Inclusion and the organizations of the collective with a view to starting it up next year. On the other hand, UPTA, linked to the UGT, believes that “these reforms should not be backed down: the self-employed contribution system will reduce the tax burden of 1,600,000 self-employed”, assures its general secretary, Edward Abbot.
Abad calls for “quick and effective decisions” and warns against the possibility of “leaving out the self-employed who are not from transport”: “we all have to get out of this crisis situation together, you don’t have to give him a pulse to the self-employed, that we are already at the limit”. “Many self-employed, who had not yet recovered from the low activity of the pandemic, receive these prices as the last straw they needed to have to close their businesses,” he warns for his part Love, who blames the Government for not having taken any measures yet: “We are late. We are to see them coming with many announcements, but no concrete facts, “he says.