The stoppage of truckers on account of the price of diesel begins to suffocate the industry and the Asturian ports. Under pressure, the government is open to negotiating measures to lower the cost of fuel, but it will not do so with the organizers of the protest, but with the National Committee for Road Transport (CNTC), where the Platform for the Defense of the Freight Transport Sectorthe organization calling the employer’s strike, lacks representation.
The “truck strike” it intensified in Asturias during its second day. The strike, which continued to be the majority, added broken windows, the first barricades at the entrance of large industries and punctured wheels. With an unequal impact on Spain, industry sources highlight the high level of follow-up that the strike is having in Asturias, which they attribute to the transport fabric in the north of Spain, mostly cooperatives and made up of self-employed workers, who are the bulk of the transport operators that support the strike. The most serious event of the day took place in Madrid, where a 33-year-old carrier was accidentally shot in the abdomen when he struggled with a plainclothes National Police officer during an incident with members of a picket line in the logistics park. Barral of San Fernando de Henares.
In Asturias, according to sources from Government Delegation Several altercations were recorded during the night. Two trucks were stoned as they drove through the A-8 and another one on the highwayto A-66 near Abuli (Oviedo). Given what police sources described as an “escalation of violence”, the Government Delegation and the companies are organizing to charter convoys escorted by the Civil Guard. Throughout this Tuesday, and at the close of this edition, the security forces and bodies escorted more than twenty vehicles to avoid actions by the pickets that could cause material damage or compromise the safety of the driver. At the entrance of Port of El Musel A dozen picket members were identified by police as they tried to disconnect a tanker from a truck.
The pickets also went to the factory Asturian Dairy Industries, Reny Picot, in Anleowhere during the two days of protests they informed the carriers that they provided the minimum services. Camilo Junior, a worker in the sector residing in Ribadeo, justified his task and also protested: “We are not talking about less income, we are talking about families going to ruin,” he stressed. In this factory of dairy products, only the trucks that provide the milk are accessing with relative normality because it is a perishable product, according to the works council. The same thing happens in Capsa Food, where they have completely stopped the distribution to the client.
The pickets stressed that they do their job without causing incidents and that the strike is “necessary to improve things for everyone.” the multinational Ence reported that the transport strike is causing incidents in truck traffic at its Navia plant. “However, at Ence we do not foresee any impact on the quality or quantity of our plants’ production, nor on the supply of product to our customers,” company sources said.
Large industry and ports continue to suffer the consequences of not having anyone to deliver the goods. Port operations are running normally, but bulk goods and containers are stacked up with no one to get the goods out of the ports. Loads are slowing down because it’s hard to get raw material to arrive. sources of the port authorities of Gijón and Avilés They admit their concern if the situation drags on.
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A truck loaded with pitch destined for the factory in Chemical Industry of Nalón de Trubia He left the port of Avilés yesterday protected by an escort from the Civil Guard to avoid incidents with the pickets.
Sources of ArcelorMittal they also recognize the impact of the protest on their activity. The stoppage of trucks is complicating both the exit and entry of products from its Avilés and Gijón plants. The president of Femetal, Guillermo Ulacia, warned that the transport strike may force industries in the sector that usually work with few stocks to stop, calling for “common sense” to seek solutions to a conflict that “unnecessarily harms”. “What we are receiving are calls from our companies that, if this lasts a little longer, they are going to have to stop because they are not going to have material to process,” Ulacia said during an act in Gijón. Given this, he called to “seek a dialogue to find the solution as quickly as possible.”
The president of FADE, Maria Calvo, assured that the indefinite stoppage of transport is affecting “in a very important way all economic activity” in Asturias, since “quite a few companies” are having to stop their activity or reduce it “to a great extent”. Calvo pointed out that the strike is having a “pretty big” following.
Alejandro Monjardín, president of Cesintra, one of the employers’ organizations that supports the strike, called for a prompt solution to the conflict that, it fears, could be “catastrophic” if it drags on. Cesintra does have representation in the CNTC, which will meet today with the Minister. “The important thing is what is achieved in the negotiation, not who negotiates it,” says the carrier.
The consequences of an Asturias without trucks reach the first supermarkets
First, it was the oils and flours that disappeared from the shelves of some Asturian supermarkets. It had to do with consumption patterns in the face of rising prices and possible shortages in the face of a halt in imports from Ukraine. Now, the first Asturian supermarkets are suffering from the lack of certain products, especially the chains that lack large logistics plants in the Principality. The lack of carriers and the willingness to stock up on the part of consumers in anticipation of the situation worsening, make a dent in some businesses. Yesterday, some supermarkets in Oviedo put up posters excusing a lack of food that they blamed on the “truck strike.” Large food companies such as Capsa Food, warn that they are not being able to take out trucks to distribute their products to customers on account of the protests. At the moment, the supermarket chains, sources from the sector explain, have food supplies, but they trust that the pulse that the carriers are throwing at the Government will end soon.
The strike yesterday delayed the distribution of the newspaper
The pickets yesterday prevented the normal distribution of LA NUEVA ESPAÑA. Due to the incident with the delivery vans, the newspaper reached the Asturian newsstands late due to the blockade of various distribution routes. LA NUEVA ESPAÑA regrets not having been able to attend its daily appointment with readers in a timely manner. The newspaper will continue reporting on the evolution of the conflict.