The strikers don’t let up. The Asturian autonomous carriers linked to Platform, the organization that is leading the protests in the sector, met this Sunday at the Asipo industrial estate (Llanera). They held an “informative” assembly to reiterate their willingness to continue with the trucks stopped for at least one more week. Another seven days in which they call their bases to double the pressure on the pickets in polygons, ports and distribution centers. That was the slogan: “They have to see us on the street, not 20, not 50, they have to see hundreds of us, they have to feel us.” An announcement of intentions that comes at a critical moment for Asturian companies. Large companies have closed facilities and begun to take advantage of employment regulations and, employers warn, every day that Asturias lives without trucks the risk of irreversible damage grows and the losses (there are already 200 million according to FADE) multiply.
The leader of the Platform in Asturias and president of the IUF, Jose Fernandez, reiterated his willingness to continue with the stopped trucks until the Ministry attends to his claims. The carriers refuse to receive “aid”, their claim is that work below cost be prohibited, to which the Government has already committed itself but which, he says, it cannot achieve immediately. The Executive of Pedro Sanchez proposes a law that regulates this circumstance, but it will take months to put it into operation. The claim of the carriers is that, via decree, these same measures are applied in the “meanwhile”. “They tell us that they cannot do it immediately, but in a few hours they manage to mobilize more than 20,000 policemen to persecute the pickets,” laments the Asturian leader of the mobilization.
Asturian carriers will continue to pulse the Government. “They are trying to wear us down, but they are not going to succeed, we can go on like this for months”, pointed out the IUF president. However, he only asked his affiliates for “one more week.” They believe that the Executive will not resist the pressure and will accept their conditions.
The unions, for their part, are calling for an end to the conflict. Javier Fernandez Lanero (UGT) believes that large and small companies have to come to an agreement so as not to affect the “most disadvantaged” groups. Large companies affected by the strike will meet today with the Ministry of Industry to take contingency measures. Lanero reiterated that companies are being forced to apply new ERTEs. The employers have been sounding the alarm about their situation for two weeks and there are not a few companies that believe that this week, which everyone considers “critical” can lead them to temporarily close their facilities.
The damage, unions and companies agree, will continue to be felt in the long term. Asturian companies are losing customers and the cost of starting complex processes, once they have been paralyzed due to lack of supplies, is high. Asturian ports also fear the consequences of the conflict continuing. The Musel is holding up thanks to internal roads and rail transport, but the Port of Avilés is already slowing down operations due to the saturation of its facilities.
Some voices yesterday in Asipo pointed out that the mobilization could be losing strength. During the last assembly held by the strikers, there were more than 1,300. Yesterday they did not reach a thousand. However, the spirits of those present do not cool down. The strength of the Asturian self-employed, who are the majority in the sector, is that they lose money every day they hit the roads. “In my hunger I rule and I’m not going to ruin myself by working,” he sentenced Manuel Quesadaa freelancer from the Casintra cooperative.
Dozens of strikers, sanctioned after a large picket in front of Central Lechera Asturiana
The most active pickets and the IUF leader called on like-minded truckers to double their presence on the streets during the assembly they held on Sunday morning. It didn’t take twenty minutes to put the “new organization” into practice. From Asipo, the carriers on strike took their cars and went to the headquarters of Central Lechera Asturiana, in Granda, Siero, to carry out a mass picket. The company, which was loading and unloading products, had an escort from the Civil Guard, as has been the case since the beginning of the protests. The pickets claim to have been sanctioned in an “irregular” manner, simply for remaining on a public road. The agents would have identified them and warned them with fines of up to 600 euros. During the assembly of IUF affiliates and supporters of the strikes, special emphasis was placed on doubling the pressure on Capsa Food, which, they say, is coercing carriers to work below cost. Asked by this means, the truck drivers point out that it is a “usual practice” of Asturian companies. Central Lechera Asturiana has been denouncing a “borderline” situation for two weeks due to the strike.