“There are companies in Valencia that have looked for subterfuges to get their employees to go to work and, if they don’t, the widespread approach is for them to ask for vacations.” Daniel Patiño, Secretary of Union Action of CCOO of the Valencian Country, advises against it.
The decree law approved by the Government includes the labor shieldwhich establishes paid leave for workers whose movement poses a danger to their safety or interferes with rescue efforts.
Those who have lost their home or are searching for missing relatives, as well as those who are caring for children or the elderly, can also benefit.
However, reality is stubborn.
“My sister-in-law has anxiety that she can’t even speak. They are forcing her to go to work Valencia“. He is from a town affected by DANA, he has two small children and does not have a family network. “I cannot express the words of helplessness. He doesn’t know what to do. “We need Valencia to be paralyzed, because this is not normal.”
One of many desperate messages you have received in recent days Laura Baenapresident of the conciliation association Yo No Renuncio, who assures that the entity is overwhelmed after the catastrophe.
It is not an isolated case. Daniel Patino It is estimated that there are some 400,000 people who live in affected areas and must travel to work in places that have not been hit by the rains and floods. Many have contacted him to ask questions or report abuses.
“A girl was telling me about the atrocities she went through on Tuesday the 29th. Her boss called her to come over to clean her business. She lost her car, she demanded that the vehicle be repaired and told her to take care of the insurance. Thank goodness she was freed us from the section of road that collapsed,” recalls the union member.
Days later, he attended an electrician who was forced to walk for hours to get to his company. “What they did with him was outrageous,” comments Daniel Patiño, who believes that “common sense should prevail” because what has happened in Valencia is “very brutal.”
In any case, the Secretary of Union Action of CCOO from the Valencià Country makes it clear that the casuistry is extensive: “There are companies that empathize with the situation and others that have not understood the mobility restrictions, but also some that have stopped their activity after being affected by the rains.”
Therefore, if they cannot get to work and superiors do not understand it, he advises that they do not try, although they should first communicate the absence or even justify it. “Influencing or pressuring them to show up is serious. Firing them is even more so.”
Lola RuizSecretary of Union Action of the UGT of the Valencià Country, clarifies that dismissals for not going or arriving late to work are “residual.” It is not necessary to go to that extreme, because some workers are pressured even though “their situation is very regrettable.”
Beatriu Cardona, spokesperson for Valencian Intersyndicalistdelves into these more or less subtle coercions: “We are detecting behaviors that, in addition to violating the law, are inhumane.”
He answers the phone while distributing diapers and cleaning products in Catarroja, one of the affected towns. He considers that the decree law is “necessary, but insufficient”, for different reasons:
– “Many workers do not know all their rights and are very vulnerable, because they are in an irregular situation or with contracts below the actual hours worked.”
– “There is a extreme job insecurity and people are afraid to report it.”
– “The immigration law has left many people, especially women, in a situation of extreme vulnerability, which is why it must be repealed.”
Conclusion: “The working class has rights on paper, but they are not fulfilled.”
Since last Thursday, he has received “a barrage of calls.” They don’t transcend because “people don’t want to talk,” according to her. “Precariousness makes us vulnerable and they are afraid of losing their jobs.
Some of the stories are carried out by large companies that put pressure on their employees. “People with flooded houses who have lost everything, including their vehicles, are receiving calls from their superiors to return to their jobs, even though the law defends them,” he says. Beatriu Cardona.
“Even to clean the facilities, when these companies have enough money to pay professionals. It is immoral that they force them to do that when they should be preparing their homes or making arrangements to recover their vehicles. And then they fill their mouths with their donations,” complains the spokesperson for Intersindical Valenciana, who insists that “workers, in a subsistence context, must have the guarantee of being able to concentrate on saving their family, their homes and their belongings.”
“From a distance,” concludes Beatriu Cardona, “you only have a slight impression of the true dimension of the tragedy.”
Lola Ruiz also alludes to fear: “We tell them that they have no obligation to go to work if it is not safe or in other established cases, although the company ends up imposing itself.” Remember that it is not just about having lost the car, but rather a communications problem that affects public transport and all types of infrastructure.
“Even so, we have received cases of workers from large supermarkets who have been told by managers to make a living, because they have to go, when now the most important thing is to preserve their safety. And there are also people who go to work early and they must walk through impassable stretches at dawn,” adds the Secretary of Trade Union Action of UGT.
Other workers call to find out about leave due to the death of a family member. “In addition to the losses, they are very psychologically affected because the pressure is brutal: there are people who have seen corpses, but others tried to save a neighbor and failed. All of this is going to leave an emotional mark on the Valencian population.”
Lola Ruiz considers that it is “incomprehensible and inadmissible” that large companies force their employees to go to work in these circumstances, when they have the resources to hire workers to replace them.
Now, according to her, there is a possibility that “middle managers may exert pressure in a subtle way without perhaps senior management being aware of it,” which is why she recommends that managers convey to their subordinates that they must show humanity. “In addition, forcing an employee to work goes against the law and the decree approved by the Ministry of Laborso a dismissal would be null and void.”
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