“The working class must come out to defend the country today”: Petro

2024-09-06 17:55:31

In a context of growing tensions due to the truckers’ strike that has affected various regions of the country, President Gustavo Petro spoke out through his X account with a forceful call to action for the working class.

In a series of messages, the president stressed the need for transporters to unionize and organize themselves as a “people” to confront the current problems of the sector.

Petro pointed out that, historically, some transport unions have manipulated scrappage policies for their benefit.which has led to the exclusion of small truck drivers from the market. According to the president, these entrepreneurs would have used the scrappage process to increase their fleets, while independent drivers, unable to increase their rates, were displaced.

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The working class today must come out to defend the country. It is not people against people. That is what they want. It is by helping to resolve an agenda for small truckers that will allow the country not to suffer the deficit that would lead us to maintain social inequalities and at the same time… https://t.co/ymGbw6qLj8

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) September 4, 2024

“In the world of truckers’ unions, there is everything. Some allowed, in previous governments, the scrapping process to be handled with corruption, becoming a mechanism that favored certain businessmen while driving small and independent businesses out of the market.“Petro wrote. He also said that currently some of these businessmen present themselves as defenders of small transporters, but their real interest lies in opposing government policies that seek to democratize the transport market and improve the conditions of small truckers.

The president was clear in his message: «The working class must now come out to defend the country. It is not people against people, as some claim. It is essential to resolve the agenda of small truck drivers to prevent the country from suffering a deficit that would maintain social inequalities..

Petro also took advantage of the occasion to encourage the unionization of transport workers, especially in large trucking companies and in public transport. “Let’s take advantage of the time of the strike to hold large union meetings. The government will fully support the legalization of unions for transport workers,” he concluded.

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