Spanish lorry drivers threaten government with strike action due to rising fuel costs

The situation has been escalating since March due the rise in fuel prices caused by the war in Iran.

Their main demand is that the Ministry of Transport's cost observatory become an official benchmark to prevent transport operators from working at a loss. The sector is not calling for a specific fare, but rather for the establishment of control and penalty mechanisms for cases where a service is at a loss.

"We cannot continue operating without covering all our actual costs," chairman of Plataforma en Defensa del Transporte Manuel Hernández said on Thursday. He was referring to the financing, depreciation, maintenance and repairs of vehicles, as well as insurance and tolls, among other things.

The platform has submitted a draft royal decree to the Ministry of Transport setting out urgent measures for the sector.

Hernández also warned that a large proportion of the sector are complaining that they have not been paid the aid approved in March to offset the rises in fuel prices. He believes the subsidies cannot address the root of the problem.

"When my freight client knows that a litre of diesel is going to cost me 20 cents less, they apply the same proportionate discount to my transport rates, which are already insufficient," Hernández pointed out.

The current standoff between hauliers and the government has its roots in the sector-wide strike of March 2022, which lasted 21 days at a time when fuel prices were soaring due to the war in Ukraine. That strike led to shortages in supermarkets and dealt a severe blow to industry and Spain's GDP.

Following that dispute, the government approved measures, notably the mandatory adjustment of prices in line with fuel price trends.

The war in the Middle East is now the source of pressure: fuel prices are rising again and the sector finds itself unprotected. "We knew that sooner or later this situation would happen again if the government did not take action to remedy it," Hernández said.

"Every day we take to the roads, we face the risk of not making our vehicles profitable. The Ministry of Transport's response and the firm commitments it makes to us will determine whether we go on an indefinite transport strike," he stated.

The platform is urging the ministry to review its proposal so that its demands can be incorporated into the aid package due to be approved in cabinet next Tuesday.

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