CCOO plans freight transport strike on 23 and 24 December over early retirement

The strike call

Spain's Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) has announced a strike in road freight transport for 23 and 24 December, a stretch that falls in the middle of the Christmas period. The union says the walkout protests the government's delay in approving reduced-age coefficients, which would let professional drivers retire early without a penalty. According to the reports, CCOO passed the strike notice to freight employers on Friday, 13 November, after warning for months that it would increase pressure if the procedure kept stalling. The union has not formally confirmed the call and will hold a press conference on 16 November to specify the mobilisations it plans.

Employers push back

The majority freight employers' confederation, CETM, and Fenadismer have both confirmed they received the mandatory notification from the SIMA mediation and arbitration service for 23 and 24 December. Both groups describe the measure as unjustified and disproportionate, arguing that it targets transport companies instead of the authorities responsible for the delay. Fenadismer warns that a stoppage during the Christmas campaign would cause serious and unnecessary harm to haulage firms, to the wider public and to the supply chain. The employers say they backed and pushed the joint formal request for the coefficients together with the unions.

Why the union says the process is stuck

CCOO says it has spent months warning about delays in the mandatory reports needed to apply the coefficients. It accuses the General Directorate for Social Security Ordering of halting the issue of those reports without justification after the election call was announced. The union also argues that keeping lorry drivers at work into older age poses an unnecessary risk to road safety, pointing to the physical and mental strain of driving professionally for decades. Fenadismer places the blockage on the Ministry of Social Security, which it says has held the necessary reports since July and has stopped the Evaluation Commission from meeting after the early election call. RTVE names the department as the Ministry of Inclusion and Social Security and says CCOO holds it responsible for blocking the process.

Background and what comes next

The coefficients have a documented history in the reports: CCOO, UGT and the majority employers' groups, including CETM, Confebus for passenger road transport and the self-propelled crane sector, jointly requested their application for professional drivers in October 2025. The articles do not report a ministry response to the strike call or any agreement. The union's press conference on 16 November is the next known step, and it is where CCOO is expected to confirm the strike days and the wider calendar of protests. The stalled reports remain the central point of disagreement between the union, the employers and the ministry, as each side describes them.