On the second day of the indefinite truckers' strike over fuel prices, Sebastián Pérez, a leader of Arica transporters and one of the spokespersons for the Confederación Fuerza del Norte, explained the movement's demands in a telephone interview with La Tercera's Editorial Staff this Wednesday morning.
The leader reported on his expectations for the meeting of his representatives with the government at La Moneda and specified that they do not feel represented by the historical organizations that are not adhering to the mobilization.
In that vein, the leader exposed the differences they maintain with the leaders of the National Cargo Transport Confederation (CNTC), Sergio Pérez, and Juan Araya of the National Truck Owners Confederation (CNDC).
"The discontent of all small, independent, and medium transporters is the lack of representation by Mr. Araya and Mr. Pérez, who are from the large confederations, who have had conversations with the government, made agreements, but which do not directly benefit all small transporters due to the type of contracts they handle," Sebastián Pérez pointed out.
He added: "They have large contracts and obey chains of more than 50 trucks, 60 trucks. Therefore, they are looking out for large contracts and not for the independents."
The spokesperson for the northern truckers stressed that what they were...
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On the second day of the indefinite truckers' strike over fuel prices, Sebastián Pérez, leader of the transporters of Arica and one of the spokespeople for the Fuerza del Norte Confederation, explained the movement's demands in a telephone interview with Desde la Redacción de La Tercera on Wednesday morning. The leader spoke of his expectations for the meeting of his representatives with the government at La Moneda and made clear that they do not feel represented by the historical organizations that are not joining the mobilization. Along those lines, the leader laid out the differences they maintain with the leaders of the National Cargo Transport Confederation (CNTC), Sergio Pérez, and Juan Araya of the National Confederation of Truck Owners (CNDC). "The discontent of all the small, independent, and medium-sized transporters is the lack of representation by Mr. Araya and Mr. Pérez, who belong to the large confederations, which have held talks with the government and reached agreements, but which do not directly benefit all the small transporters due to the type of contracts they handle," Sebastián Pérez specified. He added: "They have large contracts and belong to chains of more than 50 trucks, 60 trucks. Therefore, they are looking out for large contracts and not for the independents." The spokesman for the northern truckers stressed that what they are asking for is in line with the needs of their grassroots members and the reality affecting them as small business owners. Sebastián Pérez indicated that despite the costs they incur by not working these days, they decided to carry out this strike in the face of the "insolvency" the sector is facing, with many of those he represents "right now being left without work, without the economic capacity to operate, and working below minimum costs." The leader said they are watchful of the dialogue with the government and asserted that they will only end the mobilization when they have "something signed on the table," with clear commitments and defined deadlines. "The main focus is the fuel issue (...) and finding a tool that generates a freeze, a specific reduction, so that it is something immediate for everyone, not only for transportation but also for the citizenry, so we can operate as we should. So I believe the main point, the crucial issue here, is the fuel matter," he stressed. Check out the full interview here: