Transport strike today, who does it affect?

The consequences of the war in Ukraine are already beginning to be tangible in Spain. Although the increase in the price of diesel and gasoline has been registered for months, the increase of the last days, partly motivated by the armed conflict, has led the fuel to mark historic highs. That is the reason why truckers and autonomous carriers, grouped in a platform and without the support of the sector’s employers, have decided to start this Monday an indefinite transport strike.

This transport strike, of course, affects ordinary citizens. A halt in the transport sector may, in the first place, cause the rise in prices of many products that, from today, will reach the supermarkets. This price increase would be coupled with the increase in the shopping basket that the economic crisis resulting from the coronavirus and the partial blockage in the global supply chain have caused.

In the event that the transport strike is prolonged in time -and this is the intention of the organizers, at least until the Government gives some solution to try to reduce the price of fuel- the consequences can be very harmful to the pocket of Spaniards, with an exponential increase in the value of basic consumer goods, especially because a significant proportion of the truck drivers who have joined these protests are engaged in food transportation.

Although the strike is only supported by the self-employed and SMEs in the transport sector, massive support could cause product shortages in many cities and towns in Spain. In that sense, from the organization that calls the strike, Platform for the Defense of the Freight Transport Sector, they point out that small carriers account for 85% of the sector in our country.

The government, meanwhile, has announced, without specifying dates, that it will meet with carriers in “the coming days”.