Inmaculada G. G. went last Tuesday to her job at the telemarketing company Konecta. She had a morning shift. She appeared at the company’s facilities in Madrid, on Calle San Romualdo located in the San Blas district, and she began to carry out work that she had been doing for 15 years. Death befell Inma that day. It was instantaneous, recounts a co-worker. The Samur arrived in a few minutes and tried to revive her. She couldn’t do anything. They covered her corpse. Meanwhile, next to her, her colleagues continued working. “Not forced”, explain sources from both the company and the unions, but they do live in an uncomfortable situation.
Inma “felt good”, says the same companion”. She “She had some pain, but nothing that did not prevent her from going to her job.” But she passed away suddenly at her workplace, in front of her computer and phone. The reasons for her death are omitted because the family has asked the company to maintain the utmost respect.
Before 12 in the morning, the health services were already at the Konecta headquarters. Also the Police. The Samur professionals certified her death and the police officers guarded Inma’s body until the judge appeared.
While all this was happening, a group of the deceased’s colleagues continued to work, taking calls. Both the company and the union representatives agree on this situation. No one gave them the order to stop.
They were moments of “great confusion”, explains Álvaro García, a representative of the UGT. “There was disorder and disorganization,” he adds. The fateful situation “was not formalized”, despite common sense that if a colleague had died, the appropriate thing would have been to stop work, he defends. But “the workers were in shock.” Whoever had to make the decision did not do it quickly either. That is why the union demands a protocol to avoid new situations like this. García reports that “the Konecta workers state that they had the opportunity not to answer calls.”
CGT representatives assure, for their part, that they spoke with those responsible for the company to be able to stop the service. They add that they were told that it was an “essential service” and that they could not make that decision. No source claims to have been forced to answer calls. But it is true that some workers continued in their jobs.
From CGT they add that the ‘call center’ has a special service for contingencies. A kind of guard platform in case the main service goes down. It is located just a few meters from the scene of the events. They claim that it could have been activated immediately.
It is not until hours later, around 2:00 p.m., that the company informs the workers that they can continue teleworking. That they can go home. The last employee disconnects his service after 3:00 p.m. The afternoon shift did not get to access the Konecta facilities.
Since that day the company maintains the possibility of teleworking. However, many colleagues have decided to go to the facilities where Inma suddenly lost her life to “mourn her loss” and “pay her tribute”. She was a “much loved” worker.
