Truck drivers organize a possible new strike due to the rise in fuel prices at several Brazilian stations in less than a week
Petrobras has decided to increase fuel prices again, six days after announcing another increase, truck drivers must announce a new strike and claim that “such conduct clearly shows that the current president of Petrobras, Roberto Castello Branco, is challenging the President of the Republic and the government, when it does not fulfill what the market wants: predictability”.
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“Truck drivers are not a problem for Petrobras,” said Castello Branco. The new increase is the sixth of the year for gasoline and the fifth for diesel oil. With today's new adjustments, the price of a liter of gasoline has already accumulated a high of 54% this year, and that of diesel, 41,6%.
CNTRC to define new truck drivers strike due to high fuel taxes
The National Road Cargo Transport Council informs that at a virtual meeting on March 26 and 27, the possibility of a new truck drivers strike will be discussed. The President of the CNTRC, Plinio Dias (pictured left), says that the list of claims has not changed.
The main point is the successive increase in diesel prices and the lack of predictability. It is not the first time that a threat of a truck drivers' strike has arisen in the country this year. A stoppage scheduled for February 1 had the support of the CNTRC. However, the movement became political in nature and ended up not happening. Since March 1st, the federal government has suspended the collection of PIS and COFINS at distributors.
Leaders do not rule out a new truck drivers' strike for fuel increases
Other leaders also do not rule out a new truck drivers' strike. This is the case of Wallace Landin. He is president of the Brazilian Association of Autonomous Vehicle Drivers (Abrava): “As the government met some demands from the class, the strike movement lost some of its strength, but with this new increase…”
In addition, the Bolsonaro government also exempted tires from import taxes. In the same sense, it will loosen the norms for weighing trucks on the roads. As well as edited a bill that provides for the MEI of truck drivers.
Oil workers, through the Única dos Petroleiros Federation, which brings together oil workers' unions from all over Brazil, also demonstrated after a new increase imposed by Petrobras. The general coordinator of the FUP, Deyvid Bacelar, sharply criticized the new increases in fuel prices. For him, it is necessary to immediately extinguish the Import Parity Price (PPI) policy that the company applies, which considers the price of oil and the dollar, but ignores the national costs of producing derivatives:
“It is urgent and necessary to end Petrobras' pricing policy, which penalizes Brazilian workers. And if the sale of the refineries goes ahead, it will be the definitive establishment of this pricing policy that only looks abroad to price fuels produced in Brazil, by Brazilian refineries, owned by Petrobras. Whoever buys these assets will be able to charge whatever price they want, and obviously will only be guided by international values. That’s why we always warn that the consumer’s pocket will hurt even more.”
