Petro’s government could use Ecopetrol resources for truckers’ strike

The truckers’ strike is about to complete a week and the warnings from the regions do not cease, since some market places are already reporting shortages, while essential services such as education are being affected by the impossibility of children and adolescents to get to their schools and colleges in several municipalities. All this while the government and protesters are trying to reach an agreement.

Because of this, some ideas are already known, coming from the President of the Republic, Gustavo Petro, who said that he does not rule out even using Ecopetrol’s resources to face the challenges that originated the protest by the transporters, such as the modernization of the vehicle fleet.

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Through his social networks, the head of State also said that the country must work on revising the rules for cargo transportation in Colombia, since from his perspective, most of the benefits would be left in the hands of large companies in this sector, while The pedestrian is the one affected by the rules and changes that arise.

“The proposal made by the Government seeks, as never before, the complete protection of small truck drivers and dump trucks. A mandatory regulation of payments made by freight intermediary companies to truck drivers to guarantee their access to freight,” Petro Urrego initially indicated.

In this sense, he added that technology will be taken into account as an ally. In this task, we focus on monitoring the working conditions of large retailers and regular truck drivers, to prevent irregularities that may affect the rights of one side or the other.

“I am considering the introduction of a public freight intermediary platform to improve truck drivers’ income,” he said, stressing that “there is already a Single Cargo Registry” that can serve as a basis for this task, which he reiterated is urgent to ensure that there is equity within the union.

Ecopetrol money

Another point that drew attention in what the President of the Republic said had to do with a topic that has been mentioned a lot in recent years, without achieving substantial progress. It is about the need to modernize the vehicle fleet in Colombia, since it not only reduces productivity, but also does not help in the fight against climate change.

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For Gustavo Petro, some resources could be taken into account to help in the task, without falling into past errors such as those that helped create the ‘scrap cartel’. Thus, he looked at a company that can be considered a jewel in the crown and that, although it is not going through a good moment, continues to contribute great resources to the Nation.

“Minhacienda will have resources from Ecopetrol for the technological leap of trucks. The replacement of trucks in the scrapyard will be done one by one to avoid excessive fleet growth,” said the President.

Gustavo Petro

EFE / Presidency

In his announcement, the president denounced that “of the 3,000 freight intermediary companies, we have found more than 1,000 that have exploited truck drivers, separating abysmally the freight price they charge the generator, compared to what is paid to the truck driver who carries the load. They will be investigated by the superintendencies and the Dian.”

Finally, he issued a harsh warning in the face of the protests and reiterated that “the price of diesel will gradually rise and in accordance with compliance with these regulations for the protection of small truck drivers.”