MADRID, 7 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Platform in Defense of Transport, the group of self-employed and small transport companies nationwide that called the strike last March, has announced a new indefinite strike starting at midnight this Sunday.

Manuel Hernández, president of the platform, has announced the result of the vote that they have carried out this weekend in their provincial delegations on the resumption of the strike.

Last Saturday, its provincial delegates held a meeting in which they analyzed the current situation in the sector, following the measures approved by the Government in consensus with the majority organizations of carriers, which make up the National Committee for Road Transport (CNTC).

Among these measures, the new law to prevent carriers from working at a loss or a new package of 450 million direct aid stands out, in addition to those already approved in 2021 and in April 2022, such as the 20-cent discount, the prohibition that drivers do the loading and unloading; the limitation to one hour of waiting times in the loading and unloading areas, the reinforcement of transport inspection or aid for abandoning the profession.

However, the Platform has continued to denounce the "non-compliance" by the shippers (customers of the carriers) with the law that prohibits working at a loss in the sector, and points to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda to disavow the Civil Guard to control and denounce this non-compliance.

For this reason, the delegates decided last Saturday to resume the strikes, a decision that was voted on this weekend and that has been endorsed by the members of the Platform.

"The Administration must react quickly and face what is to come," said Hernández at a press conference this Monday, who has emphasized that the self-employed who make up the sector do not currently have the capacity to face the increase in costs , which are 30% higher.

"We are paying 40% less salary to our drivers, making insurance that covers the minimum essential for not being able to afford the amounts that are demanded of us," he denounced.

For Hernández, the "small imbalances" in compliance with the measures agreed with the Government "are labor deaths", and in this regard he has estimated between 200 and 250 the number of companies that are forced to close each month.

"We don't have time. Every day that passes there are business tragedies, but also family ones, because there are cases of suicide," he warned.

Before knowing the vote, the Minister of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, has acknowledged her "concern" about another possible strike in the transport sector and has appealed to the "responsibility" of the group so that they do not call strikes again .

"We are monitoring and awaiting the results of the votes," said the minister, who assured that the Government "has complied with all the agreements reached with the transport sector."

Sánchez, in statements to TVE collected by Europa Press, stressed that the conditions and circumstances of the sector have improved and that the Government will continue working to comply with what was agreed.

For this reason, and after offering dialogue to "redirect" the "small imbalances" that may exist, he has called on carriers not to go on strike again, especially in the current "complex moment".

The minister has recalled that the transport decree that was agreed with the sector guaranteed that it could not work at a loss and has insisted that, if situations arise in which this is not fulfilled, there is a complaint system.

"It is absolutely essential that it be reported so that the Inspection can carry out its work and impose sanctions that can reach up to 4,000 euros", stressed the minister, who has also advanced that her Department is finalizing an Inspection plan, which it will present "in the coming weeks", where the inspection mechanisms are reinforced.