Margarita Soto and Tania Prades tell their experience at the dealership
It's not yet six in the morning Lhicarsa, but Margarita Soto and Tania Prades already have everything ready to start their work day. Like every morning, they arrive with enough time at the facilities of the street cleaning, collection, treatment and disposal service concessionaire in the municipality of Cartagena to prepare their tools and vehicles. As soon as they receive the day's work reports, both go out to their assigned areas to leave them “as clean as possible,” they say with commitment and satisfaction.
Armed with a broom, a dustpan and garbage bags, they travel inch by inch through the streets and squares of the port city, its neighborhoods and its councils, with the aim of making the entire area of Cartagena look its most beautiful image. “You feel useful because you work for citizen well-being, since cleanliness is hygiene, public health and environmental respect,” argues Prades, while she is delighted to “go out into the street and see your city cared for.” A vision that Soto shares, by reservedly boasting about how impeccable her sector looks, as they call each perimeter of action.
They repeat it frequently: they feel comfortable, integrated and valued in the Lhicarsa family from the beginning. Tania entered following in the footsteps of her father, who is a driver for the urban solid waste (MSW) collection service. «I have seen it since I was little; “When he passed by my street, my three sisters and I were waiting to greet him,” she recalls with pride. For her part, Margarita decided to put aside the profession of fitness instructor that she held for 19 years to begin a new stage in the company where her husband already worked, who drives an MSW truck and was the one who encouraged her. “I came in one summer and realized that I love it,” she confesses.
His personal and professional growth within the dealership company is notable. To fill the positions of cleaning workers they have received specific training, despite the popular belief that this job can be done by anyone. Specifically, Tania and Margarita have taken courses, such as occupational risk prevention, and have even obtained their type C driving license (paid for by Lhicarsa). “We save a lot of money because this permit is quite expensive,” says Soto, who drives an electric vehicle, highlighting that these courtesies are “an incentive to progress.” In this regard, Prades maintains that “bosses and colleagues are always supporting us and giving us confidence”: “When you feel valued, everything flows; and from the first moment they have made me feel that way.
From Monday to Friday, in summer and winter, with heat and cold, both Tania and Margarita and the rest of their colleagues take to the streets entrusted with the functions of street cleaning or urban waste collection, at the service of citizens. and visitors, without distinction, at the mercy of their orderly or more or less civic behavior. These functions include the removal of gum, the clearing of weeds and brush from public roads, and street hydrocleaning.
Social support
Without a doubt, theirs is a job – they describe – that is hard and rewarding. “Hard, due to the exposure to weather conditions and because you don't always collect bits of paper and leaves, and rewarding, due to the personal satisfaction of keeping your area clean, the salary is quite good and people are usually grateful,” they explain. Among the displays of affection that are most frequently repeated, the recommendations from passers-by to take advantage of shady spaces and the offer by neighbors and hoteliers to give them soft drinks and bottles of water in summer or coffee in winter and even to use their bathrooms.
Others of these gestures are received in the form of compliments: “It was time to see women with these machines (urban waste vacuum cleaner or pressure washer),” says Margarita, before emphasizing that “we can do the same jobs as men.” . «It gives me great satisfaction to hear these comments; “I'm going home very happy,” she says, to which Tania adds that “they are appreciated.”
With all this, they also agree to encourage all those women who want to work in the urban services sector to take a step forward. “You help your city and its people,” says Prades, while Soto recommends that “be brave and try to enter a company like Lhicarsa, which is worth it.” “They don't even throw me out with hot water anymore,” Tania says gracefully.
At 1:00 p.m. his work day ends. When they return to the warehouse, located in the Cabezo Beaza industrial estate, they put away their tools and charge the electric vehicles to operate the next morning without surprises. They still have the rest of the day ahead to manage paperwork, go to the bank or the public administration, and enjoy their free time. “We have a good schedule that allows us to reconcile our professional life with our family life,” they say.
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