Transporters on white armlet strike

Romanian road transporters go on white armlet strike as of Friday in protest against the high values of the civil liability insurances for car owners (RCA), informs the National Union of the Road Transporters in Romania.

The road transport employees will drive 30 km per hour for one hour every day until the car insurances bonuses will be cut to the maximal level of RON 4,907 per year.

The union also called on the road transporters who take part in the white armlet strike to display on their windscreens a placard reading “RCA protest-I am driving 30 km/hour one hour a day-I want to live.”

Moreover, the road transporters plan to stage a national protest on September 15.

The transporters argue that most of the transport operators are facing bankruptcy after the bonuses for the commercial freight transport increased by over 30% compared to the previous year and by over 50% compared to 2014.

Therefore, a policy for a hauler, B0 class costs RON 22,000 per year compared to RON 4,000 in 2014.

The National Road Transporter Union accuse the insurance companies that are not interested in cutting down the risks, but they only want to lay their inefficiency on the transporters’ door, as they have extremely high management costs deducted from the civil liability insurances returns.

“Practically, the insurance market became a sort of <Wild West> where every insurance company sets its own tariffs without considering the risks and sustainability, while the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) is only capable of sending the insurers to insolvency,” reads the transporter union’s press release.