Tuesday, June 12, 2018

"Angry Chinese truckers in mass strike as fuel costs overtake haulage fees"

From The LoadStar, June 12:

Rising fuel prices and strikes have hit China’s truck market.
Truckers across the country have staged mass protests and refused to work over the weekend.
They claim transport fees are no longer sustainable in the face of rising fuel costs.

An anonymous social media post said: “We can’t take it anymore, we have no choice but to stand together.”

It added: “We won’t starve to death if we don’t work for a few days, but we will certainly not survive with the ridiculously low transport fees we are being paid.”

The message called on the country’s 30 million drivers to join the strike and threatened to “smash the vehicle” of any who refused to participate.

In the past four days, strikes have been recorded in Anhui, Chongqing, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Shandong, Shanghai, Sichuan, and Zhejiang.

One striking driver told Radio Free Asia on Monday the protests were also linked to a rising sense of job insecurity, exacerbated by the introduction of bidding systems for loads.
“Have you heard of Yun Man Man? It’s a logistics app, and recently they introduced a bidding system, which means that they will definitely pick the cheapest bid,” said the driver.

“People will be forced to keep cutting their haulage fee, which is negative competition, [and] that was what triggered [the strike].”...MORE