SAO PAULO, March 17 (Reuters) - Truck drivers' unions in Brazil are calling for a strike as soon as this week in response to the recent surge in diesel prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East, a union leader said on Tuesday.
A widespread truckers' strike could have severe consequences for Brazil, which depends heavily on truck drivers to transport goods across the country and to ports.
In 2018, a massive truckers' strike paralyzed the country for about 10 days, involving numerous road blockades. As diesel prices climb again, calls for a strike have emerged, though no specific dates or indications of participation levels have been confirmed.
"It's a fight for survival," Wallace Landim, head of the truckers' union Abrava, told Reuters in an interview, adding that a strike could begin this week.
The average price of S-10 diesel, the most commonly sold type in Brazil, has increased by approximately 19% nationwide since February 28, when the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran began, driving up global oil prices, according to data from payments firm ValeCard released Tuesday.
This is not the first attempt at a large-scale strike since 2018, but Landim noted that previous efforts were politically motivated, whereas now truck drivers are experiencing "the same pain we felt in 2018."
To mitigate the impact of rising global oil prices on consumers, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government removed taxes on diesel last week, and Brazil's oil regulator launched an operation to combat fuel price gouging.
However, it remains uncertain whether these measures will be sufficient to prevent truck drivers from halting their vehicles.
"Truck drivers are at their limit," said Carlos Alberto, a director at CNTTL, a transport workers' union, in a statement.
(Reporting by Alberto Alerigi; Writing by Fernando Cardoso; Editing by Jamie Freed)
