Tanker drivers defy threat of arrest

Just five months after the latest workers’ strike in the fuel-tanker industry, the National Union of Dangerous Goods Drivers (SNMMP) called for a new walkout from 7 to 22 September 2019 to protest the standstill in government-mediated talks over higher wages and better working conditions.

According to Anacleto Rodrigues, spokesperson for Independent Freight Drivers’ Union (SIMM), fuel-tanker drivers are subject to dangerous and precarious conditions, including fifteen hour-long shifts, a base salary of €600 and the fact that overtime payments do not compute as social security contributions – something unions are fighting to change. Francisco São Bento, president of the SNMMP, shed light on the fact “that companies are built on top of these workers’ overtime work”. São Bento claimed that many drivers had already worked up to 500 hours of overtime in this year alone.

In response, the Portuguese government imposed fuel rationing at petrol stations to prevent a nationwide paralysis and ordered fuel-tanker drivers to go back to work in different parts of the country where minimum services had not been met. The order meant that drivers who refused to comply could face criminal charges, including up to two years of imprisonment.

Environment Minister João Pedro Matos Fernandes said that fourteen drivers were being accused of carrying out a crime of disobedience, while some drivers had been threatened with dismissal if they did not respect the decree. “The government has no alternative but to resort to this civil order,” he said.

Strikers reacted angrily after proceedings began against the fourteen drivers. Pedro Pardal Henriques, vice president of the SNMMP, said this order was “an attack on the strike, because these people (the drivers) delivered minimum services. No one will respect the minimum service or civil requisition”.