Spanish truckers to stage series of job walkouts over retirement rules

MADRID — Spain’s truck and bus drivers will start a series of strikes on Oct. 28 to demand earlier retirement on better conditions, union leaders said.

Truck drivers will walk out on Oct. 28, Nov. 11, Nov. 28, Nov. 29, Dec. 5, Dec. 9, and will begin an indefinite strike on Dec. 23 if their demands are not met, representatives of the country’s two main unions, the CCOO and UGT, announced.

The unions demand that drivers’ employment conditions such as the retirement age, now at 67, and the right to partial retirement be improved and adjusted to the conditions of other categories of workers who face similar risks as drivers.

“Age is a determining factor in motor skills, sensory and cognitive loss and constitutes a risk not only for the worker but also for the rest of the people,” said Diego Buenestado, UGT’s secretary for road and urban transportation.

A month-long strike by truckers in 2022 brought Spanish supply chains to a halt, caused food shortages, triggered a bout of inflation and hit economic growth. — Reuters