AMMAN —
Owners and drivers of trucks said on Tuesday that they will continue the strike
they started a few days ago to protest the increase in fuel prices,
specifically diesel, asserting their rejection of the agreement reached Monday
by the
Land Transport Regulatory Commission (LTRC) and the Jordanian Truck
Owners Association.
اضافة اعلان
Drivers and owners of trucks interviewed
by
Jordan News also refuted the association’s recent announcement that an
agreement had been reached and that work would resume Tuesday. They stressed
that the association does not represent them and that their strike will
continue until their demands are met.
Obaidah Abul Adas, who has been a truck
driver for nearly two decades, told
Jordan News that the most significant
demand is “to reduce fuel prices and raise transportation fees, as per the
agreement that was signed in June”.
According to him, the strike “will
continue until the demand for higher wages is met”, from Ramtha to Aqaba.
“I used to make some 30 percent profit
on one shipment; with the rise in diesel prices, the profit decreased to 10
percent,” he added.
Abul Adas said that “many promises were
made to us, but they were never fulfilled”, and stressed that all truck drivers
“suffer and incur heavy losses”.
Another man, who has worked as a truck
driver in Aqaba for 25 years and asked to be identified as Abu Rakan, told
Jordan News that “our profits have declined significantly”.
“Even if wages were to grow by JD50,
this would not solve the problem. ... The high price of diesel constitutes a
serious challenge for us,” he stressed.
LTRC spokesperson Abla Weshah told
Jordan News that the issue “is still under discussion” and that “a committee
will be formed”. She expressed her hope that a resolution was found so that the
truckers would return to work.
The head of Jordanian Truck Owners
Association, Mohammad Khair Al-Dawood, said that truckers’ wages will be
determined “according to a guiding regulation issued by the LTRC, and will
follow the transport wages regulation in force and approved by the Ministry of
Industry, Trade, and Supply”.
He added that any new wages will be
calculated according to the fuel price, “whether it increases or decreases”,
starting with the beginning of the next year.
According to the Jordan News Agency,
Petra, Dawood also said that an agreement, slated to be struck Tuesday,
stipulated adding JD1.5 to the fees levied for transporting phosphate, potash,
and sulfur.
According to the agreement, he said, the
price of shipping containers weighing up to 25 tonnes and working on the
Desert Highway between Amman and Aqaba will be raised to JD500 from JD448.
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