Along with the bad weather we’re being told is on its way, Easter weekend could be blighted by a shortage of fuel at filling stations.
At least this is the message coming from striking lorry drivers who started a strike today (Monday) with no end in sight.
These truck drivers in the sector that transports “dangerous materials” (like fuel) want what everyone else seems to want these days: salary ‘revision’ (upwards) and the chance to progress.
Says TSF radio, “this is no ordinary strike: union bosses are warning that in a few days time fuel could start running out at the pumps…”
If the situation today maintains (and we’re told adhesion to the cause is 100%) “very probably” we’ll start having shortages by Wednesday.
Said Pedro Pardal Henriques, vice president of the syndicate of drivers of dangerous materials: “These drivers have to be specially-trained. They have to have special certification to move hazardous materials but they are still labelled as regular HGV drivers.
“Bearing in mind their speciality and the risks they are subjected to, the first demand is for the recognition of the category “drivers of dangerous materials”, and then the number of hours they work, which are excessive, as well as the question of salary. We want what we wanted 20 years ago”.
And if Henriques is to be believed, drivers now are living with “so many difficulties”, they are unlikely to return to work unless their demands are met.
