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Spain's haulier strike called off after one day 

The Local Spain
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Spain's haulier strike called off after one day 
Spanish media reported that the demonstrations and stoppages didn’t receive nearly as much support as had been forecast. (Photo by ANDER GILLENEA / AFP)

The Spanish truck driver strike which kicked off on Monday and had threatened to cause supply chain problems ahead of Christmas has been called off by organisers citing “disproportionate threats” from within the industry.

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In a statement published on Tuesday, Spain’s National Platform for the Defence of Transport announced that the truck drivers who had joined the stoppage would desist after just 37 hours. 

According to the group, most of the participants who took part in the protests received “disproportionate threats” from people within the sectors which they work for. 

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They denounced a “relentless campaign of harassment on the part of shippers, associations that are part of the national transport committee, government unions, some media and a specific political party" in order to "try to intentionally discredit as much as possible the mobilisations".

The National Platform for the Defence of Transport called the indefinite strike the previous week, and on the first and only day of strikes on Monday, truckers from around Spain joined the main demonstration in Madrid, which led to some isolated incidents of violence mainly involving punctured wheels.

Spanish media reported that the demonstrations and stoppages didn’t receive nearly as much support as had been forecast, with only around 1,100 protesters gathered in Madrid.

Other protests planned for other cities were called off due to a lack of participants and no major disruptions in deliveries were reported.

The strikes were announced after small transport companies and self-employed truckers criticised that agreements reached last March and ratified in August by the Spanish government have not been complied with. 

Among the agreed measures was a new law preventing them from working at a loss and a new package of direct aid for the sector of €450 million.  

Lorry drivers claim that wages have not risen and they are still working at a loss and that 250 Spanish transport companies are having to close every month.

The Spanish government has applauded “the return to normality” without the strike having threatened the country’s supply chain or caused the €600 million in daily losses that were expected in the worst-case scenario.

Spanish authorities deployed over 50,000 police to monitor the first day of the strike and "guarantee that the vast majority of carriers who want to work can do so," Transport Minister Raquel Sanchez said Monday.

Major unions such as UGT and CCOO had also rejected the strikes, calling them "disproportionate" and "politically motivated".

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