Truck drivers from different regions of the country are organizing a national strike that could occur in the coming days, amid the increase in the cost of diesel and dissatisfaction with measures adopted by the government to contain the rise in fuel prices.
HAS Sheetthe president of the Brazilian Association of Motor Vehicle Drivers (Abrava), Wallace Landim, known as Chorão, said that the articulation involves not only self-employed drivers, which his association represents, but also “celetistas”, who are hired by transport companies.
The category had been holding conversations throughout the days with the government about the increase in fuel prices through representatives of the General Secretariat and the Ministry of Transport, as well as members of ANTT (National Land Transport Agency). The government has been monitoring the progress of the mobilizations in case the strike is confirmed.
There is no date for the strike. Sector leaders state that the category has already decided in favor of folding its arms and, according to Landim, they are working in coordination with regional entities, cooperatives and transport companies to align a date and increase adherence to the movement. The government sees signs of price abuse at the pump and says it will inspect the stations.
One of the main criticisms of the sector is that, a few days after the announcement of the government’s tax waiver package to make diesel cheaper and reduce the impact of the international crisis on fuel, Petrobras increased the price of diesel at refineries, which, according to truck drivers, nullified the effect of the tax reduction.
“What has been done so far has been useless. The government already knew that Petrobras was going to increase the price of diesel later. So, in practice, it did not generate any reduction. We need to have some guarantee”, stated Landim.
According to the truck driver, there is mobilization for a national strike between entities in Santos (SP), Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Distrito Federal and Goiás.
“The category decided to fold its arms, it is unable to maintain its work. We understand the external factors, but we are 20% to 30% dependent on imports, which makes the situation unsustainable,” he said.
On March 12, the federal government announced an emergency package to try to contain the escalation of fuel, including the zeroing of PIS and Cofins rates on diesel and subsidy measures that will give an additional R$0.32 per liter to producing companies or importers that sell diesel below a pre-established value. The measures predicted that the price of fuel could fall to around R$0.64 per liter in some cases.
A day later, however, Petrobras announced an increase of R$0.38 per liter in diesel A, a fuel that leaves refineries before the mandatory blend of biodiesel.
According to Petrobras, the adjustment was mainly motivated by the rise in the international price of oil, driven by the war that is spreading across the Middle East and increasing the global cost of fuel.
Landim says that the government can take other measures that alleviate the final price for the category, such as requiring contractors to respect the minimum price on the freight list and exempting toll charges for those traveling unladen on the road.
Truck drivers complain that there is no effective compliance with the legislation that established the minimum floors for road freight transport and ask for the application of Law 13,703 of 2018, created after a major strike in the category that year, when there was a “national policy of minimum freight floors”.
“We are fighting for the law, which is not enforced at all,” said Chorão. According to him, many truck drivers end up accepting prices below the minimum due to lack of effective supervision and market pressure. “ANTT (National Land Transport Agency), which is responsible for inspection, already has the means to electronically lock the minimum cost spreadsheet.”
Abrava, an entity chaired by Landim, brings together around 35 thousand truck drivers. Estimates from the sector itself indicate that Brazil has around 790,000 self-employed truck drivers and approximately 750,000 drivers hired under the CLT regime.
The issue is being closely monitored by the federal government, which had already identified signs of a possible shutdown before last week’s announcement.
According to the leader of Abrava, members of the Civil House of the Presidency of the Republic contacted him on Monday (16) to discuss the situation. Still, there is skepticism about the negotiations. “The Civil House called yesterday. We are tired of sitting down with the government. There may even be more dialogue today, but the difficulties are the same and nothing can be resolved,” he said.
For self-employed truck drivers, who directly bear the costs of fuel, maintenance and tolls, the combination of expensive diesel and pressured freight is unforgiving. “If there are no measures that guarantee cost predictability, the strike is one of the few ways we have to press for change,” said Landim.
State governments decided to deny President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s (PT) request to reduce the ICMS on diesel in an effort to face the escalation in international oil prices amid the war in Iran.
In a note released this Tuesday (17), they say that they have already lost too much with the state tax cut forced by the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government and accuse distributors and stations of not passing on price drops to the consumer.
