
One month after the transport sector called a 'Christmas strike' for December 20, 21 and 22, and after several meetings between the employers' association and the Ministry of Transport, the strike has finally been called off and the trucks will roll next week. Sources close to the negotiation confirm to 20minutes that an agreement in principle has been reached between both parties and the lockout of freight transport is cancelled.
Although there were only three days left for freight transport companies to stop their activity throughout Spain, an 'in extremis' agreement between the Government and the National Road Transport Committee (CNTC), made up of several transport associations and confederations, has stopped the measure.
On Friday morning, the cancellation of the strike seemed impossible, in view of the communiqué issued by the employers' association in which they called for unity of action by the sector to support the strike called for "dignity and money" because, they said, their future was at stake and they had already reached "the limit".
The last meetings between the CNTC and the Ministry did not seem to have borne fruit, and part of the employers' association claimed that the Government was not making progress in the negotiation, especially since the arrival at the Ministry of Transport of its head, Raquel Sánchez, whom they accused of "ignoring" the sector and leaving the commitments made by her predecessor, José Luis Ábalos, a dead letter.
However, despite the fact that last Thursday night's communiqués indicated that the strike was still going ahead, sources present in the negotiations affirm that in the meeting called urgently by the Ministry this Friday, which lasted several hours, several proposals from the Employers and the Government were formalized and the national strike was stopped.

What had led the transport sector to call a 'Christmas strike': these were their demands.
According to the press release of the National Road Transport Committee, the Government has accepted the prohibition of driver participation in loading and unloading operations, "a historical demand of the sector for the benefit of the working conditions of its workers", they state.
"It has also been achieved to reduce by half the waiting times, after which the carrier will be entitled to compensation, as well as the treatment to be given to drivers in the loading and unloading centers. Likewise, it has been achieved the commitment to incorporate in the Law, in an imperative way, the clause of stabilization of the price of diesel oil in the transport contracts, without the possibility of agreement to the contrary", explains the communiqué.
According to the employers' association, commitments have also been obtained from the Ministry, such as not implementing tolls for heavy transport without their consensus. In addition, regarding the possible increase in the load capacity of trucks, "any modification will be made progressively and only in certain specialties of transport, always with the participation of the CNTC, a measure adopted for the sake of sustainability and efficiency and as a manifestation of the commitment of the transport sector with the improvement of the environment", they explain.
With these measures and commitments, the strike that threatened the days before Christmas will not take place, a situation that could have affected many sectors that live on sales at this time of the year.
Via 20minutos