On Wednesday (31/08), the Senate approved a provisional measure (MP) that authorizes the National Land Transport Agency (ANTT) to change the minimum value of freight paid to truck drivers according to the price of diesel. As the text has already passed through the Federal Chamber, now the MP will come into force permanently without the need for sanction by the President. The measure comes to placate demands that led truck drivers to promote a general strike in 2018.
How the Measure Will Work
The MP defines that the agency may change the value of the freight whenever the price of diesel oscillates above 5% (up or down). According to the current rule, the review of prices takes place every six months or if the price fluctuates above 10% (up or down).
Truck Drivers Strikes
The text approved by Congress amends the National Policy on Minimum Floors for Road Cargo Transport, created in August 2018 due to the truck drivers’ general strike, which brought the country to a halt. At the time, truck drivers made a stoppage across the country demanding, among other things, the creation of a table with minimum freight prices. The minimum value takes into account, among other items, expenses per kilometer traveled and cargo characteristics.
For local experts, as a final solution to this crisis was never reached and diesel prices kept rising, truck drivers remained calling for new national strikes, which never took place for various reasons, among them the pandemic; record harvests that generated a lot of work, and the fact that the current Federal Government is supported by some leaders of this category.
