MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish truckers announced on Friday the continuation for an “indefinite” period of a strike movement that began 12 days ago, after rejecting a package of government measures totaling 1 billion euros. euros to help them cope with soaring petrol prices.
The Spanish government on Friday offered truck drivers discounts on fuel as well as an exceptional bonus in order to put an end to this strike which has led to shortages and forced some companies to reduce their production.
But the ‘Platform for the Defense of Transport’, an unofficial group of truck drivers behind the protest movement that started on March 14, rejected these measures and began blocking the future of Castellana Madrid.
“Unfortunately, we are continuing the strike,” said Manuel Hernandez, leader of the protest movement, Friday evening after a meeting with Transport Minister Raquel Sanchez.
Manuel Hernandez called for immediate aid, the Minister of Transport having, according to him, only promised aid in the form of a law in the coming months, and transitional measures in the meantime.
Raquel Sanchez had initially refused to discuss with the strikers, judging that they were not representative of the entire profession and that they were linked to the extreme right. Some strikers wear yellow vests as during the social movement that appeared in France in 2018.
The strike began on March 14 when a group of drivers and small truck owners began blockading roads and ports in response to rising fuel prices, exacerbated by the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
Three transport associations joined the movement after the government on Monday offered aid of 500 million euros that drivers quickly deemed insufficient.
Taxi drivers have stopped working in some parts of the country and fishermen have also temporarily stopped working.
The Spanish professional association (CEOE) complained on Wednesday of the government’s slowness to act compared to its French and Portuguese neighbors.
The distributors called on their customers to calm down, stressing that the food supply was guaranteed despite shortages of certain products.
(Report by Nathan Allen, Belen Carreno and Inti Landauro, French version Dina Kartit and Jean-Stphane Brosse)