article_detail

A nationwide road transport strike that had been planned for June 22 has been called off after the union behind it secured a formal written commitment from Spain's Ministry of Social Security on the issue at the heart of the dispute: early retirement rights for professional drivers.

 

The strike had been called by FeSMC-UGT, the transport and mobility arm of the UGT union, in response to what it described as months of complete administrative deadlock. Two sets of files seeking recognition of reduction coefficients, which would allow professional drivers to retire early in acknowledgement of the particularly demanding nature of their work, had been submitted back in October 2025 and had since disappeared into a bureaucratic black hole with no updates, no decisions and no timetable offered to the union.

 

That changed following a meeting this week between UGT officials and the Secretary of State for Social Security and Pensions, Borja Suárez Corujo. For the first time, the Ministry provided a written communication confirming the status of both files and setting out a clear roadmap for what happens next.

 

According to the Ministry, the morbidity and mortality report for the road freight transport file has already been completed, with the equivalent report for road passenger transport expected to be finalised within days.

 

Once both are ready, they'll be passed to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate, each of which has one month to produce their own mandatory reports. All documentation will then go before the Evaluation Committee established under Royal Decree 402/2025, with the Ministry confirming that committee will hold its first ever meeting in September. The aim, according to the Ministry, is to have both files fully processed during the autumn.

 

The Ministry also addressed one of the union's biggest concerns directly, confirming in writing that the files will continue to be processed regardless of a six-month deadline that UGT had feared might be used to archive them without a decision.

 

UGT's General Secretary Antonio Oviedo welcomed the outcome, describing it as a significant step forward and crediting the threat of strike action with forcing movement on a situation that had been frozen for months.

 

The union made clear it is calling off the strike on the basis of these commitments but will be watching closely to make sure every one of them is honoured. Planned information assemblies for workers will still go ahead to explain what was agreed and what the next steps look like.

 

Image: UGT