Following price hike, Iranian truckers stay off the roads

TEHRAN - Thousands of Iranian truck drivers in several cities began a second day of strikes on Tuesday following a dramatic increase in the price of diesel fuel, transportation company representatives said.

The strikes, which seem to be spontaneous, are the first sign of public discontent after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government on Sunday drastically raised fuel prices as a part of an elaborate plan to slash state subsidies in the coming weeks.

"At least half of all truck drivers in the country are on strike or not working," said Mohammad Arjmandi, a manager for a Tehran-based transportation company. Those who are working, he said, have increased the fees they charge to transport goods by nearly 40 percent.

Under the changed price plan, truck drivers will have to pay up to 21 times as much for diesel fuel - which has been heavily subsidized in Iran and is still unbelievably cheap by U.S. standards. Each trucker can fill up the tank once during the next month for the old price of $0.06 a gallon. But after that, they will have to pay $1.32 a gallon.

The price of non-diesel fuel is also going up, but far less drastically, with a maximum price increase of 60 percent, to about $2.65 a gallon.

While the government has stockpiled products such as rice, cooking oil and detergents in an attempt to limit price increases, the strikes could paralyze Iran's distribution system, which in turn would spark a jump in demand - and prices.

"The prices of many items will go up because of this," Arjmandi predicted.

Officials deny there is any strike but acknowledge that dozens of truck drivers had not worked on Monday.

"Only 60 drivers did not work yesterday," said Mohammad Rouyanian, head of the National Transport and Fuel Consumption Management Committee, according to the semi-official Iran Students News Agency. He also said that out of 2,500 transportation requests nationwide, only nine were not honored.

But transportation companies said that they did not have enough drivers on hand to send goods from the capital to provincial cities. "The drivers are striking, but I don't know for how long, since many have to pay monthly installments for their trucks," said a transportation manager who only wanted to be referred to by his first name, Saeed.

The sale of diesel fuel has plummeted since the implementation of the new pricing policy on Sunday. The head of Iran's gas station syndicate, Bijan Hadjmohammadreza, told the Ayandeh News Web site that almost 73 percent less diesel was being sold.

The strikes illustrate the major challenges both the Iranian people and the government face during the implementation of the plan to slash subsidies.

Meanwhile, department stores were empty of customers on Tuesday, which is the date Iranians celebrate Shab-e Yalda - the longest evening of the year, also known as the winter solstice. Traditionally, families gather in large numbers, eating fruit and nuts while reading poetry.

"Last year, our store was packed with customers," said a clerk at the Sharvand department store in the upper-middle-class Saa'dat Abad neighborhood. "They must be saving their money," the clerk said.

The government is saying all prices for basic goods will be controlled and those raising prices beyond government parameters will be arrested. Bread prices were officially raised by about 300 percent on Tuesday, from 10 cents to 30 cents a loaf, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

"It will be some weeks before people have completely understood what has happened," said Golrokh Amiri, a Tehran housewife. "But this morning I took my regular shared taxi, who had individually raised prices by 25 percent," she said. "Go complain to whoever you want, he told me. But I still had to pay."