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A NEW initiative will bode very well for more than 13,000 truck drivers in the province of Almeria: the Spanish Confederation of Freight Transport, or CETM, and the trade unions CCOO and UGT signed off on an application that will allow truck drivers to retire at the age of 60. Truck driving considered ‘labour-intensive’ According to figures from the State Employment Service, there are around 13,700 truck and freight drivers in Almeria as of last year. Now, following the Spanish government’s ruling that truck driving is a labour-intensive activity (due to its high accident and mortality rates), the opportunity for early retirement may now be officially open to them. Almeria, being one of the provinces with the largest truck fleets and along with it, one of the largest pools of professional freight drivers, will be one of the provinces in Spain that will see the most people benefit from this new legislation. A profession affected by the ageing process “The work of professional drivers requires constant attention and a high level of concentration, something that can be affected with age due to the natural changes that come with the ageing process, such as the loss of reflexes or the decreased ability to react,” stated CETM. After signing the application, which requests for legal adjustments allowing earlier retirement for jobs that are considered dangerous or demanding, CETM and the trade unions will officially submit the signed application to the General Directorate of Social Security Regulation, which will determine whether the reductions apply for professional road freight drivers. Almeria, a land of drivers and roads The measure is particularly significant in Almeria, much of which is made of connecting roads on which materials and exports are transported by these freight drivers, namely fruits and vegetables, and minerals including gypsum and other stones. The road transport sector in Almeria, and indeed in the whole of Spain, is experiencing a difficult period of supply and demand, in which there are fewer drivers available with the ageing of the progression and more and more companies are forced to hire foreign workers, particularly from Morocco and Eastern Europe. Read more news from Almeria here.
