“We don’t have 2,000 workers sleeping on the streets; things work”

2023-11-21 21:22:11

Elena Fort (Barcelona, ​​1970), institutional vice president of the Barcelona Football Club and head of Espai Barça, speaks to EL PERIÓDICO after this newspaper has revealed, through an investigation carried out over the last five months, the allegations of exploitation made by several workers during the course of the works on the new Camp Nou.

Is there labor exploitation in the Camp Nou construction sites?

No. As categorically as no.

How can Barça prove it?

Well because it doesn’t exist. Barça complies… Well, construction companies strictly comply with the regulations. And there is no type of labor exploitation. Beyond that it seems like a headline to me… It’s funny that when you read the entire article [de la investigación de EL PERIÓDICO]In the end there is a lot of praise for the work of Barça and Limak, and in any case we focus a lot on the headline, which is quite scandalous and does not adjust to reality.

That is to say, Barça can say conclusively that there are no workers who are suffering labor abuses.

He says it forcefully. There are no workers who suffer labor abuses.

Was Barça aware of the irregularities reported by the workers to EL PERIÓDICO?

No. If we had had it, we would have acted. Evidently. They may have filed a complaint with EL PERIÓDICO, but there is no complaint at the club. Neither Labor Inspection has any open file. Nor is there any alarm in all the internal processes that points us to any type of irregularity.

EL PERIÓDICO publishes this Wednesday that several workers have received pressure after the publication of the investigation. Even threats of dismissal. How is it possible to reconcile receiving complaints with harassing workers so that they do not speak?

I don’t know that information you tell me. He talks about some companies that are subcontracted by our contractor, which is Limak. I am not aware of any type of threat. And let’s hope that the threats are not true, obviously.

Does Barça have in its possession the list of companies subcontracted by Limak?

Yeah.

How many?

I don’t know the specific number. Approximately 20.

Do you do any type of exhaustive monitoring of the behavior of those companies subcontracted by Limak?

Yes. Obviously Limak does it, which is responsible for executing the works. And Barça has all the internal processes so that the alarms do not go off. Alarms are ringing for Barça, in any case. And there is no alarm at this time.

Any type of alarm?

None. I’ll tell you more. The works have had three surprise inspections by the Labor Inspection, which is a much higher number than in any work of these characteristics in the last five months. And those inspections have determined some type of need to correct minor issues. I think they were the height of a fence, some very slight issue, absolutely. And that has been corrected without any problem. And that’s it. The fact is that not even the Labor Inspection has any evidence that there has been any type of irregularity.

Talk about security issues. But not about labor issues regarding salaries.

But the Labor Inspection is also on top of all these issues.

And why should workers report to a media outlet, and also prove it with their payroll, that they are not receiving the salary established by agreement? There are even salaries that are below the minimum wage.

I don’t know it. Journalists take information, develop it and investigate it. All measures are really taken to find out if they are true. I won’t go in there. But let me say that on the subject of payrolls… There are five payrolls [en la investigación] when there are more than 2,000 during the entire execution of the work. And one thing is that there could be an error in the payroll. We are reviewing that. But all contracts go through Social Security. Not a single contract that has been made is below agreement. I think there is also confusion about what construction work or other types of services are, where I don’t know if you are aware that the same rules do not apply as in other types of contracts. In construction contracts, by agreement, work is done six days a week, maximum 12 hours. And that’s how it is. The information or misinformation contained in what they have published is quite surprising.

Are a thousand gross euros per month for 56 hours a week fair conditions?

They conform to the agreement. But, I insist, those payrolls that have been given to you are payrolls, not contracts. And it is possible that there is an error in those payrolls.

Does Barça have the capacity to investigate these payrolls?

Evidently. Barça has no intention of having any problem with any worker. In fact, in one of these inspections it was detected that there was only one person affected by a case of impersonation. Immediately what Limak did was expel those subcontracted companies from Barça’s works. Limak is the second, or the first, put it in any order you want, interested in making everything work. Before any report or alleged complaint came out, Limak had already taken action when he found a single minor irregularity, which was impersonation. It’s our way of acting, doing things right. And we won’t do anything that doesn’t fit.

What do you think of a worker having to sleep in some bushes in front of the Gol Nord at the Camp Nou so as not to be late due to the threat of dismissal?

That tastes very bad to all of us. But we are talking about the fact that more than 2,000 workers have passed through, that there is a schedule. From what I read, because we don’t know him, he came from Manresa. If the train arrives half an hour late, there is still an earlier bus. Don’t know. Obviously it is a circumstance. We don’t have 2,000 workers sleeping on the streets, which means things are working.

In the coming months, the volume of workers will increase to around 1,500 [trabajando simultáneamente]. Are you planning to take extreme control given the possibility of abusive practices being committed? And are more companies going to be subcontracted?

Subcontracting is a logical and normal form of any type of large civil works. We take extreme precautions. The circuits work perfectly. I insist, an impersonation of one worker out of 2,000 was detected and that company no longer works for these works. Therefore, the controls are all at 100%. And we will do it 150% if necessary. But I think it won’t be necessary.

Could the fact that Limak has proposed especially fast delivery times for the works affect the working conditions of the workers?

Should not. The basis for this speed of execution of the works is based on work that is carried out outside the field. The pieces are made outside the Spotify Camp Nou and moved and placed here. The construction system is what obviously guarantees that the conditions of the workers are legal. That above all.

Workers of many nationalities are currently working in the Camp Nou facilities. Moroccans, Pakistanis, Senegalese… Barça has a strategic ally which is UNHCR. Are you aware of the living situations that these workers have, who sometimes live in inhumane conditions?

The commitment of Barça and UNHCR to refugees is evidently beyond any doubt. But he is talking about workers who are in Spain, who are not refugees, I understand. The one who is in Manresa has an address… We are putting things that don’t belong. I do not understand the question.

There are workers who are refugees and come to Spain to look for a better life.

So that you have clear information. There is a large part of the Camp Nou workers who are not directly subcontracted by the companies, but come directly from the SOC (Servei Públic d’Ocupació de Catalunya) of the Generalitat. It’s just that we don’t talk about those working conditions.

Why is the Espai Barça participatory session that had been called for next November 27th canceled? [horas después de la publicación de la investigación de EL PERIÓDICO?

Porque cuando convocamos la segunda [sesión], it was not possible to stream in the first one. And when we did the streaming in the first one, since we had 480 [socios] and only 360 came, I think, we considered that it was not necessary to do the second one. But there was an error in the OAB (Barcelonista Support Office) that launched the call before confirming it with me. But we had already decided before.

What is the level of communication that Barça has with Limak regarding the workers’ working conditions?

Meetings with Limak are daily. At every hour of the day. It’s constant.

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The bulk of workers who have to come now, from what countries will they come?

I don’t know. The SOC has to give us a big part. If the places are not filled, people residing in Catalonia or Spain will have to come from foreign countries, always controlled by the Ministry and the Generalitat. Evidently.