Several hundreds of carriers depart from the Atocha Station from Madrid, where is the Department of agricultureto him Ministry of Transport in a march on foot, without trucks shouting “resigning minister”. “The law is not being complied with. They are lowering prices with a lot of reprisals for people who comply. Let’s see if the minister puts her to work,” he explains. Raphael Alamillogeneral secretary of the National Platform in defense of the Transport of Merchandise by Road, convener of the strikes, at the head of the march that kicks off the first day of the strike in the sector.
The main vindication of the autonomous carriers and businessmen organizing the strike is that the Government apply effective measures to avoid work at a loss. Specifically, they demand more inspections to the Ministry of Transport to certify that large companies comply with the regulations. As Alamillo explains, “not enough inspectors to inspect the companies and verify that they lower prices”.
Ana Maria de Miguel and Carlos Bravo They are a couple from Madrid with a truck each that transports sea containers with all kinds of cargo (alfalfa, scrap metal, tractors, cars, straw, fodder, among many other examples). They complain about the low prices who pay them when contracting their services. “The State makes a calculation of what my truck is worth in one kilometer. It says that it costs 1.60 loaded and 1.30 empty, but they pay me 0.98 euros, plus the difference in the price of diesel that would lead to a total of approximately 1.15 euros. The end customer does pay 1.60 per kilometer, but I receive 1.15” explains Bravo. “The law says that I must charge a minimum of 1.60, but it is not complied with because there are no inspections. They tell me to file a complaint, but if I do, I will go to the street,” he adds.
For this reason, carriers ask for more inspectors to guarantee “some fair prices because since September they are going down”, explains Manuel Hernandezvisible head of the Platform, without representation in the dialogue body of the sector with the administration -the National Committee for Road Transport (CNTC) which represents 90% of the sector. “It’s the ruin of many families,” adds Hernández.
Other claims
Another protester is Jose Ramon Fernandez Martinez truck driver who works for a small company in Ponferrada and who transports all kinds of merchandise on a daily basis. In his case, he complains that the big enterprises to which they are going to load and unload the goods, each time generate a situation of greater precariousness by dispensing with a rest area and lack of surveillance or shooting unloading times up to “six or seven hours or even a day”, which means “missing another trip, not being able to get home with the family or having to stay the weekend away.” “We go out to the street so they can see what we are going through. Everything is getting worse. It seems that they are laughing at you,” she says.
Not only carriers have been called to this march, but they have also been invited to farmers, ranchers and hoteliers to join it. “Without farmers or ranchers you can’t live, without politicians yes. The countryside dies”, can be read in one of the bannerscarried by the representatives of Assemblesan agricultural association with a presence in Andalusia, Albacete, Murcia, Extremadura and Madrid.
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It is a “free” association, as explained William Sanchez, a member of its board of directors. This is independent of the large agrarian organizations such as Roast, Coag or UPA. “We do not feel represented by these associations,” adds Sánchez, a claim similar to that of the Platform in the transport sector. According to his account, “several buses” have brought nearly “500 farmers from the association” to Madrid to support the carriers and claim their high production costs, fired after the Ukraine war. “Production costs are drowning. We also have a problem and we want to be heard,” adds Sánchez.
Normality the first day of unemployment
On this first day of strike, the Ministry of the Interior has held a new Coordination Center, chaired by the Secretary of State for Security, Raphael Perez, and in which all the security forces and ministries and administrations involved participated. The bodies have transferred situations of normal in nodes, logistics centers and communication routes, with the exception of a tire fire in Algeciras, four tractor heads in Villaescusa (Cantabria), which are already being investigated, and some punctures in Illescas (Toledo), reports Juanjo Fernandez.