After more than 12 hours of negotiations on Thursday, March 24, the Spanish government has reached a tentative agreement with a major transport union to provide fuel subsidies for striking truck drivers.
However, as is common in Spanish trade union politics, there were several smaller and different union organisations organising the transport lockout, which rejected the proposal and continued the strike into its third week.
To this end, the Spanish government this week announced a financial package of 500 million euros in direct assistance to the road transport sector, which focuses on reducing taxes on "specialty diesel". The package will be approved by the Spanish Council of Ministers on March 29.
However, the financial package announced by the Spanish government failed to end the drivers' strike.
Three Spanish unions, which mainly represent small businesses, have joined the Platform for Defending the Trucking Industry, an informal association of truck drivers and owner-operators who were the main drivers of the two-week strike.
As the strike action nears its third week, a ripple effect is being felt on roads, supermarkets and restaurants across Spain. Madrid, Valencia region, Basque Country, Andalusia, Navarra, Galicia, Murcia and other parts of Spain have been reported as truckers block major roads, ports, industrial areas and intersections Traffic jams for several kilometers.
Supermarket shelves are empty, with shortages of fruit and vegetables, milk, cheese and other dairy products, especially meat and fish. The dairy industry has been severely affected, with thousands of litres of milk spoiling in factories without trucks moving across the country.
Bars and restaurants across Spain are also feeling the effects of the strike action. Many were forced to change or adjust their menus and even raise prices to make up for some of the losses.
As of Friday morning, the situation remained fluid and it was unclear whether the government would actually negotiate with the striking truck drivers, with demonstrators in Madrid calling for the resignation of Transport Minister Raquel Sanchez as a condition of ending the strike.
This week, food processing multinational Danone warned of "imminent supply disruptions" due to a strike by truckers, and that if a solution cannot be found quickly, it will have to make major decisions and temporarily suspend four of its subsidiaries Activities of a Spanish dairy and three mineral water plants.
Yesterday, it was reported that the company had halted production at one of its breweries, and Dutch brewer Heineken also warned that it may have to cut production due to a lack of some supplies.
The country's truckers have been on strike for two weeks, severely disrupted supply chains, and hit production and manufacturing.
German supermarket chain Lidl has closed two stores in Asturias due to supply difficulties, and other retailers including Aldi have also reported shortages of certain products, such as milk, flour and oil.
The prolonged strike has raised fears that supermarket shelves will be empty and threatens road exports of Spain's fruit and vegetables during a crucial time of the year for the market.
The strike also affected the auto industry, with assembly lines disrupted by strikes by truckers and roadblocks, local media reported. Production at Volkswagen's Pamplona plant has been hampered by a supply shortage and Ford has proposed temporary layoffs for the second quarter as it struggles to secure deliveries of critical components and microchips. Opel and Mercedes were also forced to scale back their operations.
The Spanish government is believed to have mobilized 24,000 police officers to help escort truck drivers who were not involved in the strike.
