In the last 48 hours, eight people, including three minors, have drowned in Spain. But on the beaches of Barcelona, ??the fifty security guards who are in charge of the safety of the bathers began an indefinite strike yesterday to demand that the City Council and the company Aunar Group that hires them, more staff, extension of hours and improvements in material and resources to offer the service. Last night, representatives of the workers and technicians of the consistory remained together to try to unravel the situation. The meeting ended almost eight hours later, without an agreement, but with the commitment to sit down today with representatives of the company.
The indefinite strike began yesterday with a minimum service rate of 50% imposed by the Generalitat. Some minimal services that did not prevent the general hoisting of the yellow flag on all the beaches, to warn users that surveillance was halfway done.
Gustavo Ariel, vigilante and affiliated with the CGT like 80% of the staff, gave a very clarifying example: “Can you imagine that the City Council privatized the Fire Service? Well, this is 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 in five hours, neither to perform physiological needs nor to hydrate. Someone with a good salary has carried out an improvised action plan, which does not take into account any incidence, not even natural ones,” the union denounced in a statement.
The lifeguards point out that this also implies that the full safety of bathers cannot be guaranteed, even though the administrations want to “give a sense of normality and invisibility to the strike.”
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 deserted and now the workers are getting paid, they say, directly from the City Council and with delays for months.
“The staff will endure the strike until a definitive solution is reached. We are united. If the administration wants a pulse, it will lose it ”, they have assured.
In Barceloneta, the truth is that the lifeguards had the understanding of the bathers yesterday morning. From eight in the morning, an information picket was dedicated to distributing sheets and giving explanations of the reasons for their labor protest.
“There are people on these beaches and they are also the most vulnerable from seven in the morning, when the oldest get up early so as not to receive the strongest sun. And it is not understood that at that time there is no service, “insisted Gustavo Ariel.
The lack of changing rooms for the female members of the workforce, medical examinations related to prolonged exposure to the sun and better material are also some of the demands of the workers.
