The national strike of road hauliers called by Trasportounito began at midnight on 20 April: 144 consecutive hours of stoppage of road freight transport, until midnight on 25 April. The cause is the expensive fuel, with diesel steadily above 2 euros per liter – an increase estimated at 40% compared to the levels before the geopolitical crisis linked to the Strait of Hormuz. But in recent hours the protest was suspended following the death of Luigi Nappo, a 55-year-old truck driver, hit by a car on the A1 near Caserta while he was protesting.
The reasons for the strike
The arrest was confirmed despite the contrary opinion of the Guarantee Commission on strikes, which had requested its revocation due to violation of the minimum notice period. Trasportounito continued straight ahead.
These are the words of the general secretary of the Association Maurizio Longo:
The increase in the cost of fuel has triggered a crisis of unprecedented severity; and this happens in the total absence of the institutions and the competent ministry; paradoxically, the only institution that has paid attention to road transport is the strike commission for essential public services which has repeatedly tried to put obstacles in the way of a stoppage which is the mirror of a business now suffocated by debt and inexorably headed towards bankruptcy.
Also at the center of the dispute is the tax credit promised by the Council of Ministers on 19 March: a month later the implementing decree is still missing. Permanent garrisons and assemblies were planned in around 100 cities. The most immediate consequences concern the logistics of large-scale distribution: deliveries of fresh and perishable products are at risk, with possible empty shelves in supermarkets and upward pressure on consumer prices. A second front is looming in the background: Unatras has proclaimed a further national shutdown, with dates to be communicated on April 20th and a blockade expected starting from May 15th.
The suspension of the blockade after the death of a truck driver
The strike was suspended on the morning of April 20 after the death of a truck driver hit by a car while organizing a protest on the A1 motorway near Caserta. These are the words of Maurizio Longo taken from Sky TG24:
At midnight the arrest began, the protests were being prepared when a car at high speed near Caserta hit a young owner who was organizing the protest and who died. From dawn we gradually began to suspend the closure because this thing shocked us. He was a young person with a family
