Oil Prices Spark Strikes in France, Spain
First it was the fishermen in France and Spain who went on strike, protesting the soaring price of fuel. Now tens of thousands of Spanish truck drivers have begun an indefinite strike over the soaring price of diesel, which has risen by 20% this year.
After stopping work at midnight on Sunday, many disrupted traffic at the border between Spain and France.
Also hundreds of truck drivers staged "snail protests" on the ring roads around the capital of Spain in Madrid, and in Barcelona. There have also been protests in the Basque country and Valencia, Spain.
Gas stations around Madrid and in the northeastern Catalonia region are already said to be running short of fuel.
Most of the 90,000 hauliers participating in the strike are self-employed, or working for small and medium-sized haulage companies, and they have warned that many supermarkets will run out of goods within days.
The drivers want the Spanish government to establish, by law, a minimum price for their services, and to ensure that haulage contracts better reflect the fluctuating cost of fuel, which has risen by more than 20% since the start of the year.
But with inflation at an 11-year high in Spain, the government is reluctant to approve a minimum price for the work of lorry drivers, fearing that the additional costs would immediately filter through to other sectors of the economy. Instead ministers are proposing a mixture of short-term funds and long-term restructuring for the haulage industry.
Published on June 11, 2008
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