During the last 48 hours, eight people, including three minors, have drowned in Spain. But on the beaches of Barcelona, ??the half a hundred lifeguards who are responsible for the safety of bathers started an indefinite strike yesterday to demand from the City Council and the company Aunar Group, which hires them, more staff, extension of the opening hours and improvements in material and resources to provide the service. Last night representatives of the workers and technicians of the Consistory met to try to defuse the situation. The meeting ended almost eight hours later, without an agreement, but with the commitment to sit down today with company representatives.
The indefinite strike began yesterday with a minimum services of 50% imposed by the Generalitat. Minimal services that did not prevent the yellow flag from being raised on all the beaches, to warn users that the vigilance was at half.
Gustavo Ariel, watchman and member of the CGT, like 80% of the workforce, gave a sufficiently clarifying example: “Can you imagine if the City Council privatized the Fire Service? Well, that’s the same thing.”
“The surveillance towers on the beaches will be occupied by minimum service workers, who will not be able to move from the surveillance point for five hours, neither to do their physiological needs nor to hydrate. Someone with a good salary has carried out an improvised action plan that does not take into account any incidents, not even natural ones”, the union denounced in a statement.
The lifeguards explain that this also means that the full safety of bathers cannot be guaranteed, even if the administrations want to “make the strike feel normal and invisible”.
CGT points out that the company Aunar Group SL is bankrupt and from July 16 there should be a new company, but the tender was abandoned and now the workers are being paid, they say, directly from the City Council and with delays since months
“The staff will endure the strike until a definitive solution is reached. we are united If the administration wants a confrontation, it will lose it”, they assured.
In Barceloneta, the truth is that the lifeguards had the understanding of the bathers during yesterday morning. From eight o’clock in the morning an informative picket was dedicated to handing out leaflets and giving explanations of the reasons for their labor protest.
“There are people on these beaches and, moreover, the most vulnerable are those at seven in the morning, those who wake up in the morning are the oldest and do it so as not to receive the strongest sun. And it doesn’t make sense that there is no service at this time”, insisted Gustavo Ariel.
The lack of changing rooms for the female members of the workforce, medical checks related to prolonged exposure to the sun and better quality material are also some of the demands of the workers.
