On Tuesday, December 6, 2022, workers in the truck sector in Jordan continued their sit-in for the second day in a row. To demand higher wages after rising diesel prices, Jordan’s truck strike zone expanded to include a group of cities.
While Al-Mamlaka TV (Government) quoted Transport Minister Maher Abu Al-Saman on its website as saying: “The committee will be formed from the Ministry of Transport, the Land Transport Regulator and the Truck Owners Syndicate. to explore some of the problems and how to solve them,” Anadolu reported. Abu Al Saman added: “There are administrative issues and specific arrangements regarding trucks, waiting and the exchange office. These are organizational and administrative issues that will be coordinated and resolved in the future.”
According to the statistics of the Transport Regulatory Authority (state), the number of trucks in the Kingdom is about 21 thousand trucks of all types (freight and container transport).
Ahmed Okla Al-Masri (53), a truck driver and owner, told Anadolu News Agency: “Before the recent increase in diesel prices, a truck needed 530 dinars ($746) to get to Aqaba (south) and back, and now 550 dinars ($774). He also continued, “Working in this way is impossible. Trucks also need oil, depreciation, an annual license and insurance, so what’s left for us?” Al-Masri demanded “wage increases commensurate with the rise in diesel prices”.
Jordanian media reported that the truck strike area in Jordan widened on Tuesday after bus operators in the cities of Irbid and Ajloun went on strike at a tourist complex to protest rising fuel prices in front of the relevant authorities. intervened and persuaded the bus drivers to end their strike. At the same time, the bus owners confirmed that their strike was partly complex in order to convey the message to the authorities concerned that they cannot continue to work in light of the insane increase in fuel prices and the futility of the work of transporting passengers.
Dozens of drivers and water tanker owners have also joined the strike in Jordan, in the Abdun and Dabouk districts of the capital Amman, and Shafa Badran and Marj al-Hamam, also protesting fuel price hikes, pointing out that they are facing 4 diesel fuel increases and water prices were not raised, emphasizing that they cannot sustain fuel prices, which are now eating into profits. In southern Jordan, public transport owners in the governorates of Karak and Aqaba have announced a strike to protest fuel prices. It should be noted that on November 30, the Petroleum Derivatives Pricing Committee in Jordan decided to raise the price of diesel fuel by 35 fils, bringing the price of diesel fuel to 895 fils/liter instead of 860 fils/liter.
