Chevron Caribbean, Esso DR, Dipsa-Next, Petromovil, Sunix Petroleum, Isla Dominicana and Sol Company have published an advertisement in the media today, Friday 19 April telling the general public about the exorbitant demands the fuel truckers union is making for fuel tanker truck drivers. They are demanding that companies that transport their fuel in more than 10 tanker trucks should pay their drivers a minimum RD$100,000 monthly salary, 1.5 Christmas salary, incentives and Christmas basket for RD$10,000, plus minimum three months wages participation in benefits and a per diem of RD$2,200, plus one salary for school supplies a year, and 80 days of salary for drivers who have been employed by the company for more than five years. This is in addition to funeral coverage of up to 10 days free and RD$35,000 for deaths in the family, and complete severance payment to heirs plus an additional RD$100,000 and a loan of RD$50,000.
The fuel distributors say that the drivers’ wages are already RD$83,700 on average, much higher than doctors and many other skilled professionals in the Dominican Republic.
The truckers are just one sector of many transporters in the Dominican Republic that have used vandalism and depended on lenience from successive governments to achieve monopolistic positions. They have continued to impose their services on the general public, impeding free competition in the transport sector that would be reflected by more competitive prices and a relief in costs being passed on to consumers.