The Asedas supermarket employer does not foresee that the truckers’ strike announced for Christmas will cause problems of shortages in food stores, unless there are public order problems that prevent circulation.
This is how the general director of the entity -which groups Mercadona, DIA, Lidl, the purchasing centers Euromadi and IFA , as well as several regional brands-, Ignacio Garcia Magarzo, has advanced this Friday, who has demanded that the Administration legally grant the sector the status of “essential” precisely to guarantee the supply of food in any circumstance.
“Whatever happens, this sector is capable of respondingso that there are no supply problems, except when the authorities do not guarantee public order or the businessmen do not have the means to adapt. That is why it is a good time to demand that they give us that essential character by legal means”, he defended.
In a press conference organized in La Palma (Canary Islands), Magarzo urged all the agents involved in the conflict with the carriers to collaborate “to prevent what has not been capable of causing a pandemic or the volcano , from being caused by the right to strike. “
The employer responsible has recalled that in 2008, due to a similar stoppage, if there was a lack of some products on the supermarket shelves for several days “due to public order problems that prevented the circulation of road traffic.”
“The regulation and the authorities have to allow this sector to do what it has done in these two years even in worse circumstances, guarantee supply, and that cannot be conditioned to any claim, no matter how legitimate it may be,” he insisted.
The director of Asedas has stressed that stock breaks have been testimonial in the sector even in times of great tension, such as the first days of confinement due to covid-19, the start of 2021 due to the storm Filomena or now in La Palma, due to the recent volcanic eruption.
“That supply is guaranteed is no coincidence nor does it happen everywhere, in fact during the pandemic several European countries had problems,” stressed Magarzo, who has pointed to the efficiency and competitiveness of supermarket chains as a key factor.
In his opinion, the citizenry already recognizes this work of both workers and businessmen in the sector, but not the Public Administration.
“Unfortunately, over the months the situation has declined and even in the declaration of the second state of alarm , which was directed by the autonomous communities as delegated authorities, there was no longer that general recognition of our sector as essential,” he criticized.
The general secretary of the Supermarket Association of the Canary Islands (Asuican), Alonso Hernandez, has praised the behavior of the sector in the face of a situation as complicated as the one experienced in recent weeks in La Palma.
“Despite our status as an outermost region , this does not prevent us in the Canary Islands in general from making available to the consumer a complete, varied, safe, quality diet at affordable prices”, stressed Hernandez, who praised the management of logistics for avoid supply disruptions.
Likewise, he has argued that the “high concentration” of supermarkets in La Palma, with a density per thousand inhabitants higher than the national average, has also contributed to the island’s inhabitants being able to stock up on food without difficulty.
For his part, the president of Asuican, Tomas Barreto, has denied that the loss of agricultural crops and other problems caused by the volcano could lead to a rise in prices in the supermarket for palm growers.
Barreto has stressed that the operators with activity in the region have shown their solidarity by providing food and basic necessities both to those evacuated by the eruption and to firefighters, police officers and displaced scientists, and has pointed out that there is also a commitment to collaborate in the economic recovery of the island.
