Brazil truck strike enters fourth day
Brazil’s nationwide trucking strike entered its fourth day Thursday, disrupting the country’s already weak economy and threatening to leave many gas stations and some airports around the country without fuel supplies.
Truckers and other transport workers are striking because Petrobras, the state-controlled oil company, has increased diesel prices — by over 40% — in the last six months, at the same time that the right-wing Michel Temer administration has substantially hiked fuel taxes.
The strike began Monday morning, with the Brazilian Association of Truckers demanding the government cut the tax on diesel fuel in the face of a recent price spike the union called “unsustainable.”
Brazil lacks a big railroad network, making its economy highly dependent on road transportation. The strike already has caused logistics problems around the country, leading McDonald’s to release a statement that a small number of its restaurants might run out of certain menu items.
Brazil is an agricultural powerhouse, and most of its farm produce is moved to market by trucks. Because of the strike, some dairies have had to dump milk down drains as storage has overflowed, while cattle ranchers and chicken and pig farmers say they aren’t receiving enough feed for their livestock - potentially threatening the country’s food supply.
“When truckers go on strike, the economy grinds to a halt,” said Carlos Melo, a professor at São Paulo’s Insper business school.
The strike also puts Brazil’s tenuous recovery, following a two-year recession, at risk as the supply disruptions ripple through the economy. The work stoppage has spread to at least 20 of Brazil’s 26 states and the Federal District.
At: https://www.wsj.com/articles/brazil-truck-strike-enters-fourth-day-1527182315
Brazilian truckers strike over a 40% hike in diesel prices by the Temer regime.
Appointed by a parliamentary coup in 2016, Temer has recently announced he's not running in elections this October.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Part of the problem is that the business lobby can almost always count on Big Media to frame any labor-related controversy in whatever way the corporate sector wants.
I could be wrong in this case.
Either way thanks for your insights, TEB. Always good to have someone with first-hand experience with the subject at hand.
