People pressure governments worldwide to act on inflation

BARCELONA, Spain — Óscar Baños and thousands of fellow truck drivers celebrated Saturday after a threat to idle their engines pushed the Spanish government to adopt measures improving work conditions and checking skyrocketing fuel costs driven by inflation.

It’s the latest effort by workers, opposition leaders and citizens to pressure governments from Europe to the Americas to intervene as surging consumer prices squeeze households and businesses.

Baños loves hauling freight across Spain as his father did before him but was ready to lose much-needed cash during a three-day work stoppage just before Christmas. After days of negotiations, the truck companies called off the Monday-to-Wednesday action after Spain’s transport ministry agreed to demands that include controls to help cushion the blow of rising diesel costs.

“I spent 1,500 euros ($1,694) more in October for the same liters of diesel than I had the year before,” the 48-year-old said recently while hauling a load of rubber. “With that cost, it is impossible.”

Following the breakthrough, Baños is cautiously optimistic: The deal has “some positive things that now have to be put into practice. We will see.”

Political pressure has led countries including Poland, Hungary and the U.S. to take steps such as instituting caps on gas prices, pledging money for poor households or releasing oil from strategic reserves. Spain was among places like Turkey seeing more intense efforts such as protests and work stoppages tied to complaints about inflation, which has surged as the global economy rebounded from the pandemic, increasing demand for smaller supplies of energy and snarling supply chains.

While governments are taking action, they have few effective resources to bring meaningful, lasting relief, economists say, offering short-term aid that likely will do little to combat surging prices. That’s up to central banks, some of whom have started raising interest rates to ease inflation.

Spain’s inflation is at a 29-year high of 5.5%, and like countries worldwide, one of the biggest drivers is energy costs: gasoline has risen 63%, while electricity for households and businesses is up 47% over the past year.

This week, dozens of trailer trucks rolled slowly through Madrid in a “slow march” protest. Many truckers feel that while they helped keep the country going when Spain entered a shutdown during the depths of the pandemic, they are being left behind by Europe’s focus on a greener economy that’s moving from diesel engines to electric vehicles.

The government’s late Friday concessions included regulations to make a difficult job easier and attract young people: a ban on drivers loading and unloading trucks and an end to long waits at their destination. Spain also guaranteed a mandate that all trucking companies increase their tariffs in line with diesel costs so competitors don’t undercut each other, eroding profits and driving some to the brink of extinction.

“This is not only about fuel prices, but they are affecting our bottom line and the economic viability of our companies,” said Carmelo González, vice president of the Spanish Confederation of Freight Transport, who lead talks with the government.

“This increase of 35% in diesel fuel costs is killing us,” he said.

Jaume Hugas, professor of logistics, innovation and data science at ESADE business school in Barcelona, said inflation is a common thread through protests by different sectors of Spain’s economy. Strikes by metalworkers last month turned violent, and farmers have rallied against high prices.

Hugas sees the problem for Spanish truck drivers echoed in other countries like the U.S. and Britain, where a shortage of drivers meant the army had to ensure gas supplies.

“This industry has been suffering a long decline for a long time and has practically received nothing” from authorities, Hugas said. “I think that with the global collapse in trade that we have seen in Chinese ports and in the U.S., the rise in fuel prices has been the straw that broke the camel’s back.”