Truckers Strike in Spain over Diesel Prices

LadyEagle · Jun 13, 2008

Truckers' strike clogs highways in Spain
By Daniel Woolls, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Truck drivers block the La Jonquera border in Spain with France, Tuesday, June 10, 2008. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS/Manu Fernandez

MADRID, Spain - Truckers angry over soaring fuel prices blocked highways across Spain on Tuesday, disrupting supplies of food, gasoline, auto parts and other goods. One protester was killed when he was run over by a van trying to drive through a picket in a southern city.

The strike, which began Monday, is the most serious labour unrest facing Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero since he came to power in March 2004. It threatens further damage to an economy that is already slowing down due to a collapse in Spain's once-booming construction sector.

Three auto plants - one each from Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and SEAT - said they were suspending operations for lack of spare parts. And some gasoline stations in Madrid and the northeastern Catalonia region already have run out of fuel.
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http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2008/06/10/5831596-ap.html

MADRID: The customer ordered a tortilla - a traditional Spanish potato omelet - but Graciela Gómez Torea, owner of the San Telmo cafeteria in Madrid, sadly shook her head.

Blame the truckers, she seemed to say. On Monday tens of thousands of Spanish truck drivers went on strike to protest high fuel prices. By Tuesday the widening stoppage began to sever supply lines to supermarkets, gasoline stations and even small cafeterias like Gómez Torea's.

So, she explained to her customer, there would be no tortillas until the strike ended. And no thick hot chocolate either. Pork and beef, she added, would be off the menu in a few days.

"It's horrible," Gómez Torea said. "I have the chocolate delivered every day from Barcelona, the tortilla comes from Galicia, the central market is surrounded by strikers and my meat distributor says she is running out. If this continues, I won't have anything left to serve my customers."
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http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/10/europe/spain.php

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/13/europe/EU-GEN-Spain-Fuel-Protest.php

Will it happen in the US - will truckers strike over high diesel prices?

We have started stocking up on canned goods and non-perishables, just in case.

KenH · Jun 13, 2008

LadyEagle said:

Will it happen in the US - will truckers strike over high diesel prices?
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What good would it do? What do they think the government can do - place a price limit on gasoline? To artificially lower the price of gasoline would result in gasoline shortages.

Truckers Strike in Spain over Diesel Prices

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KenH Well-Known Member