The protest has been called by the Platform for the Defense of the National and International Road Freight Transport Sector, which claims to represent the self-employed, the small and medium-sized companies of the union. Its origin dates back to December 29, 2007, when a group of Galician carriers –they numbered themselves at 400- came together to demand a change in the mileage payment rates. In 2008 these Galicians got together with another group of transporters from Albacete and formed the current Platform, which has not had a direct impact on the sector until the current mobilization.
The person who is acting as a spokesperson during the current protests is Manuel Hernandez, which is presented as autonomous. Also Jose Fernandez Delgadowhich has been at the helm of the Independent Union of Autonomous Carriers (UITA) for more than a decade, an association with 30 years of existence and a presence in Asturias.
Currently they are the only ones who have called to stop their activity, although in the previous spring protest they managed to drag other employers in the sector, who rejected the Government’s proposals to soften the impact of rising fuel prices. Among them was in his day Fenadismerthe second in number of partners in the sector and that integrates more than 32,000 transport companies with more than 50,000 vehicles, all of them SMEs and freelancers that on certain occasions are integrated into a cooperative regime. At the moment they have not spoken out for or against the protests
Although the main entity in the sector, CETM, (partner of CEOE) has fully rejected the new strike call. The entity has already issued a statement in which it asks the carriers questioned to avoid a strike “which will only harm the Sector and the Spanish population as a whole.”
Another is the Spanish Federation of Discretional Freight Transport, Fetransa, which brings together various road freight transport business organisations. the third is Feintrathe Independent Federation of Carriers resulting from the union of Transporters Associations of Getafe, Talavera de la Reina and Cáceres, with more than 2,900 associates.
These three employers’ associations are integrated into the CNTC, the interlocutory body with the Government and in which nearly a dozen employers’ associations are represented.