Part of the workers of one of the six residences of the Ampans foundation, which works for people with disabilities, began an indefinite strike this Thursday to demand an improvement in labor rights. It is the first strike at the foundation in its 50-year history.
The salaries are just over 1,000 euros and a "very strong" physical and emotional load for the complexity of the users. These conditions are what have led a part of the workers of one of the six residences, which has 61 users, to go on strike, something unusual given that they do so in a sector, that of disabilities, without much union tradition.
As the workers explain, the wear and tear of work has never been valued by the company and this leads to a lot of worker turnover. A situation that, laments one of them, Gerad Vilella, directly affects the quality of assistance. “They are users who need references and a lot of stability. When these people change every so often, it causes them a lot of anguish ”, he underlines.
The strike will have very little effect, since the minimum services are 100%. In reality, it can only be done by one worker, who has a rotating schedule. In this way, according to Paula Jiménez, a worker at the center, it shows that they are already working "under minimum". The Acció Sindical del Bages union, which is the minority in the company, has called a mobilization for March 30.
Judit Rodríguez worked at Ampans for five years, but there came a time when, according to her, the situation became unbearable for her. “The fact of always working with such a load and without the necessary person led me to a very strong physical and emotional wear and tear and I had to decide to change the field”, she explains.
From the company, the person in charge of residential services, Janeta Camps, admits that it is a "historically low-paid" sector, but adds that "the situation is what it is." In this sense, she stresses that, since 2018, the company has been making a "great effort" to apply salary improvements "above the agreement". In fact, Ampans ensures that the salary paid to workers is above the agreement and above the average for the sector.
"The sector has always been poorly paid and we stand in solidarity with the workers, but we are regulated by decrees that we comply with 100%," says Camps. In this sense, the company understands the demands of the workers, but admits that "it is not up to Ampans to lead it."
According to the company, the demands made by the Acció Sindical del Bages union to improve salary conditions would make the continuity of the residential center “unfeasible”.
For his part, from the works council, its secretary, Joan Barbé, also agrees with the demands of the workers who support the strike, but does not agree with the forms and considers that the actions should not be carried out “in an isolated and opportunistic way”.
“We owe it to the people we care for. It is a sector that does not go on strike because I think it has a great responsibility. We cannot leave people unattended ”, she underlines. In this sense, Barbé believes that "there are other ways to dialogue, claim and exert force to achieve improvements".
