The kindom of the fuel makes life impossible for everyone

by altrugon | June 9, 2008 at 11:40 am | 142 views | add comment

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The few getlemans with the power to control the prices of the fuel don't stop to raise the prices days after days. We all have seen here (Vancouver) how the prices has raised in only two month 20cent per litre. Yesterday (8/Jun/2008) mornig the avarage price in the gas station was 146.8cent. and change to 143.6cent in the afternoon. What is happening here? do they chage quality of the gas during the day? is the gas that I buy Saturday night more powerfull than Sunday afternoon gas? why do they have this freedom changing prices and what is base on?

At this point the only thing I'm sure is that if we don't join to the European strike we are going to regret it very soon.

Spanish hauliers on fuel strike

Tens of thousands of Spanish lorry drivers have begun an indefinite strike over the soaring price of diesel, which has risen by 20% this year.

After stopping work at midnight, many disrupted traffic at one of the border crossings between Spain and France.

A number of lorries crossing the picket lines had their windscreens broken, lights ripped out and tyres slashed.

The government is preparing a package to assist the sector, with emergency loans and more flexible contracts.

It would also offer cash payments to older lorry drivers who are willing to retire.

French fishermen from Mediterranean ports have, meanwhile, joined fleets from other French ports in suspending their action pending an EU summit in Brussels later this month.

Overnight, about 200 lorry drivers parked their vehicles besideroadside toll booths in the Catalonian town of La Jonquera, close tothe border with France.

The protesters prevented other lorries from passing, and caused delays to car traffic.

Hundreds of lorry drivers also staged "snail protests" on thering roads around the capital, Madrid, and Barcelona. There have alsobeen protests in the Basque country and Valencia.

Most of the 90,000 hauliers participating in the strike areself-employed, or working for small and medium-sized haulage companies,and they have warned that many supermarkets will run out of goodswithin days. Petrol supplies may also be disrupted.

"We are the ones who move the goods that this country needs tokeep working," the head of the transport association federationFenadismer, Julio Villascusa, told Cadena SER radio.

"If we stop because we haven't got the money to buy fuel then the country will stop."

The president of another drivers' trade union, Adetec, said many of its small-scale hauliers were going bankrupt.

"We have no more solutions. We can't afford diesel any more.It's as simple as that," Jean-Claude Ferrand told Spanish nationalradio.

The lorry drivers are receiving support from counterparts inPortugal and southern France, who also disrupted the flow of trafficalong one of the main routes into Spain.

However, Spain's largest hauliers' trade union is not taking part.

The drivers want the Spanish government to establish, by law, aminimum price for their services, and to ensure that haulage contractsbetter reflect the fluctuating cost of fuel, which has risen by morethan 20% since the start of the year.

Their strike follows action by hauliers in France and otherEuropean countries. They are following the lead of Spanish and Frenchfishermen, many of whom have been on strike because of the soaringprice of fuel.

The fishermen have said they will go out of business unlessthe EU allows national governments to give them more financial aid andsubsidise maritime diesel.

However, the EU has insisted that any fuel subsidies would be illegal under European law and unsustainable in the long term.

EU rules state that the value-added tax (VAT) rate on fuelcannot be less than 15%. Member states are free to set VAT rates at orabove that minimum.