Certification of lorry drivers transporting hazardous substances causes strike

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July 1998 saw a two-day strike by Portuguese lorry drivers transporting hazardous substances, who objected to licencing examinations. The strike ended with an agreement to change the certification system.

Agreement was reached in July 1998 between the Federation of Highway and Urban Transport Unions (Federação dos Sindicatos dos Transportes Rodoviários e Urbanos; FESTRU) and the National Association of Public Highway Merchandise Transporters (Associação Nacional de Transportadores Públicos Rodoviários de Mercadoria; ANTRAM) after a two-day strike over the evaluation system being used for renewing occupational licences for drivers transporting hazardous substances. The agreement, reached with the help of the Government, anticipates that the written exams originally planned will be replaced with a type of evaluation that includes continuing training and successive evaluation phases.

The obligatory and selective exams were the result of transposition of European Community regulations requiring drivers to undergo periodic evaluation. The controversy arose over the manner in which the exams had been administered by the General Directorate of Transportation (DGV), which resulted in a 90% failure rate.

ANTRAN supports ongoing training and evaluation instead of the written tests administered by the DGV, given that the majority of these workers have only a fourth-grade education. It also claimed that the goal of the strike was to increase pay and in particularly risk pay, which was not included in the current collective agreement. Risk pay is still being negotiated.

FESTRU, on the other hand, would prefer to see medical and aptitude testing. What really needs to be controlled, it says, are excessive hours on the road and the illegal practice of paying drivers based on number of kilometres driven.

The two-day strike that began on 20 July affected transport of gasoline and derivatives and had a great impact on the public due to the potential risk of paralysing the country. General workers' meetings were held throughout the strike.