Road hauliers in Slovakia will stage a strike on January 7 2020, which is the first full working day in the country after the Christmas holiday, the Union of Slovakia's Road Hauliers (UNAS) announced. According to the Union, the decision has been motivated by ever higher taxes - including the road tax, excise tax and mineral oil tax - and recent revelations by the Supreme Audit Office (NKU) that almost half of the road tolls collected in Slovakia end up on the accounts of a private company.
UNAS demands that the road tax rate be cut by one half and the collection of road tolls be suspended until the "inconsistencies" as reported by NKU are "resolved", otherwise road cargo transport in Slovakia will be paralysed with "unforeseeable consequences. Politicians should realise that increases in hauliers' cost will also be translated into consumer price growth," added UNAS.
