Truck drivers say political polarization hinders mobilization

The attitude of truck drivers in the face of recent fuel price increases has been influenced by the political polarization that divides the category, according to entities heard by the Sheet.

While many maintain support for President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), as in 2018, others are disappointed and criticize the president.

The leaders also accuse each other of personal interests, which would be undermining the ability to mobilize.

A caravan against Petrobras’ current pricing policy, scheduled to start on the 20th in Curitiba (PR), for example, would be hampered by this political rift, says José Roberto Stringasci, representative in São Paulo of ANTB (National Transport Association). from Brazil).

He says he has been called a bolsonarista and a communist. “The majority [das lideranças] he does not fight to improve anything for Brazil, he fights for himself or to try to benefit their entities. Some are in favor of the government, others are against it, but I think they should see more of the Brazilian side, forgetting a little about this political part”, he says.

To get around the accusations and reinforce the non-partisan character of the caravan, he says he decided to paint the cart green, yellow and red — it would be a way “not to displease anyone”, he says.

President of the CNTRC (National Confederation of Road Cargo Transport), Plínio Dias believes that the political calendar has made several truck drivers’ leaders prefer to be cautious not to clash with Bolsonaro’s supporters.

Like Stringasci, he is also trying to articulate a mobilization — in this case, for May 21, the start date of the 2018 strike, which brought the country to a halt.

“When we launch a cry of mobilization, [algumas lideranças] they want to confuse people, as if we were making a political movement to remove Bolsonaro from the government, which is not on our agenda.”

In his view, the intention of these leaders is to use the name of the category to be a candidate in the elections at the end of the year.

Dias claims to have voted for president in 2018, but now prefers to remain neutral, despite being affiliated with Progressistas, a party that forms part of the government’s base in Congress.

“I’m not declaring my vote for Bolsonaro because I serve people from the right, from the left, from the center, everything just right. In the last campaign, I spent out of my pocket trips to campaign for President Bolsonaro. But today I don’t do that anymore “, he says, despite not ruling out the possibility of voting for Bolsonaro again.

Dias says he hopes that the dismantling of the category will change as other states follow the autonomous truck drivers of Espírito Santo, who decided to start a strike starting this Thursday (12).

For Carlos Alberto Dahmer, director of the CNTTL (National Confederation of Transport and Logistics Workers), the electoral calendar has not interfered, but the personal interests of some leaders.

“Of those I know, none had a stance that surprised me. It’s that group that, when government enters, government leaves, and they are in that totally favorable attitude of ‘hay government, soy'”, he says.

He defends participation in the caravan on the 20th, despite the polarization and misunderstandings that have accompanied his organization.

“There are several criticisms because the caravan is from the center, it is from the left, it has [crítica] by all means. But from my point of view I am in it because it defends what I defend, which is the end of the PPI (International Price Parity)”, says Dahmer.

Stringasci, from ANTB, and Dias, from CNTRC, criticize the position of the CNT (National Confederation of Transport), which represents the transport companies, and of the CNTA (National Confederation of Autonomous Transporters), of the autonomous truck drivers, considering that they do not act properly in the defense of the interests of truck drivers or transport companies, in the case of the CNT.

“They should organize meetings, call union representatives, state representatives, to discuss the sector’s problems, but they don’t do that”, says Dias.

wanted by Sheetthe CNTA stated, through its advisory, that it would not comment on the criticism of the entity’s performance, as it prefers “to abstain from commenting on matters of a political nature”.

Through a public note, the CNTA defended “a joint action by all sectors that depend on diesel for the exercise of their economic activity”, focusing on the recomposition of the values ​​of the services provided by the autonomous truck driver.

The CNT informed, through its advisory, that the president of the conference, Wander Costa, was in a meeting and could not comment on the criticism.

In a public note last month, the entity defended the transfer of diesel price increases to freight paid to truck drivers.

“Road freight transport is an essential service and proved to be essential during the pandemic, however, it is impossible for companies to continue absorbing the rise in fuel prices”, he said.