Tow-truck companies to strike over fuel prices

The tow-truck companies said on Monday that the support the government announced to address the energy crisis is “positive” but “insufficient” and has decided to maintain the national strike for an indefinite period, from Wednesday.

“The companies that are dedicated to this activity, given the unsustainable situation in which they find themselves, have reaffirmed to ARAN [National Association of the Automobile Branch] that, even considering the support now announced, they maintain the decision they had already taken, to make a national strike, indefinitely, from 23 March,” reads a statement sent by the association representing the breakdown companies.

In the same note, the association said that the government had announced the allocation of support for companies providing emergency services to cope with the rise in fuel prices, which is awaiting publication in the Official Gazette, which the association “notes as positive and as a first step to mitigate the adverse effects of the current energy crisis.

“However, these companies are facing a dire economic crisis, and so the support, although positive, is still insufficient, according to information from ARAN members,” the association noted.

For those companies, the insurers they work with should also “be part of the solution”, reacting to the current crisis, as well as the customers they provide services to, who, they pointed out, “are not sensitive to the problem, namely in terms of the general costs they bear”.

“Given this information and the decision of these companies, ARAN reinforced its appeal to the Portuguese Association of Insurers to join these entrepreneurs and to protect and dignify this essential activity for its members,” reads the same note.

ARAN has been warning about the “asphyxiating circumstances” that threaten the “survival” of tow-truck companies, calling on the government to take measures to mitigate the “uncontrolled increase” in costs in the sector.

The association called on the government to extend the support given to public passenger transport to the sector.