Six months after inspectors from the Ministry of Labor and the National Police broke into its facilities, the Terracor case has taken an unexpected turn. The Palma City Council, led by PP and Vox, has decided to award, through a jury, the Ciutat de Palma Prize for Gastronomy to this agricultural company, of which the general secretary of ultra training in the Balearic Islands was a partner, despite the fact that its inspection due to alleged labor irregularities, it remains open. elDiario.es revealed the overcrowded conditions in which some of its seasonal workers said they lived, as well as their working days of up to 17 hours, last August.
The surprise came on Monday night when, coinciding with the celebration of Sant Sebastià, patron saint of Palma, the City Council held its traditional gala at the Teatre Principal to award its highest cultural awards. One by one the winners in the categories of literature, cinema, architecture and journalism paraded across the stage. When it was the turn of gastronomy, the name announced by the presenters was none other than Terracor, the agricultural conglomerate based in Petra (Mallorca) which the Ministry of Labor opened an inspection last August.
The award, in reality, had been in the making for months. After the category was left empty in several previous editions, the Palma City Council decided to change the bases and, unlike the rest, established that it would not be an open candidacy, but that a “commission of experts” would be created to propose a maximum of five candidates. Subsequently, they must accept their participation and send a dossier before November 1 so that it can be evaluated “by a professional jury in the gastronomic field.”
As elDiario.es has learned, when the jury met in December to evaluate the candidates – all of them related to agricultural companies and cooperatives – the existing inspection of Terracor was put on the table. However, they believed that the issue had been settled without consequences for the Mallorcan company and decided not to rule it out. His file spoke of bringing products “from the field to the table with conscience”, of his commitment to “renewable energies, cutting-edge technology” and “responsible gastronomy”, and of his “solidarity with NGOs and local farms”. And, finally, they chose to make them absolute winners of the category. “If we had known with certainty that the investigation was still underway, I think we would have opted for another candidate,” say sources close to the jury.
17 hour days
elDiario.es has been able to confirm that the inspection of the company is still open, despite the fact that the actions have already been completed and the final report is awaited. A resolution in which, according to sources in the case, it is likely that some irregularities in labor matters suffered by the temporary workers who worked last season will be confirmed and that could entail a financial penalty for the company.
As this media published last August, some employees reported that, despite being hired for eight hours a day, it was “normal” for them to work twelve. What’s more, in the quadrant of some months there were days of 13, 14 and even 17 hours a day without the payroll reflecting overtime paid hours. In addition, the temporary workers were housed in prefabricated modules shared by up to three people and in rooms in a dilapidated house on the outskirts of Manacor whose only ventilation was the entrance door itself, as this newspaper was able to verify.
After the publication of this report, the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration decided to act through its Secretary of State for Migration. In coordination with the Government Delegation in the Balearic Islands, they located the company, opened an investigation and inspected its facilities. An intervention that occurred, precisely, because a large part of those affected had arrived to work in Mallorca protected by the order of the Ministry that regulates the collective management of hiring at source, and one of whose requirements is the “making available to the worker of a adequate accommodation.”
The truth is that, although the final report has not yet been sent, the investigation could have already had consequences for the workforce. On the one hand, because, according to some workers, an attempt was made to coerce them as to what they would have to answer in case the inspectors’ visits were repeated. “If they ask you, say that you work eight hours,” they told them, always according to their version. On the other hand, the temporary workers who resided in the inspected facilities automatically began to work a maximum of eight hours a day, although their salary was reduced by a significant percentage, also according to the word of those affected.
Més asks for his withdrawal
The Més formation has just requested the withdrawal of this recognition. “This award cannot be given to a company that is accused of such serious acts,” said the councilor of Més per Palma, Miquel Àngel Contreras. The eco-sovereignty party has demanded its withdrawal in what it considers an “exercise of responsibility”, since it affirms that the accusations against it “are alarming” and “incompatible with the defense of human and labor rights.” Furthermore, it highlights the “relationship” that the councilor of the Consell de Mallorca and general secretary of Vox in the Balearic Islands, Toni Gili, had as a partner of Terracor until last July. “It highlights the collusion between political and economic sectors that support labor models based on exploitation,” says Contreras.
After collecting the award, Guillem Adrover, one of the founders and main partners of the agricultural conglomerate, assured the media that the company had provided all the documentation requested from the Labor Inspection and that he considered that the recognition from the Palma City Council came “motivated by all this”, as a certain reward, according to collect Mallorca newspaper.
As if the situation were not complicated enough, this medium has been able to confirm that a new complaint has been filed with the National Police by a Terracor worker. In it he says that he worked “between 50 and 60 hours a week”, despite the fact that both his contract and his payroll included only 40. In addition, he claims that he suffered “harassment”, as well as “screams and insults in a derogatory tone” from some of his bosses who motivated him to leave the company. Some accusations that must now also be investigated.
elDiario.es has tried to obtain the opinion of Terracor and the Palma City Council, who have not yet responded to the requests for information. In August, after the publication of the elDiario.es report in which workers denounced their working conditions, the company commented that it had “collaborated in an open and transparent manner” with the Labor Inspection. “We will continue to work dedicatedly to ensure that our practices align with legal and social expectations. At the Terracor Group we have always put our greatest effort into complying with current regulations,” they added.
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