María tries to multiply, despite this, garbage accumulates in the trash cans at the entrance of the Corts, the fallen leaves of the Christmas flowers are scattered throughout one of the foyers of the Valencian Parliament and in some of the bathrooms there is a shortage the toilet paper. A third of the cleaning workers in the Corts Valencianes are on sick leave due to anxiety or depression after more than four months without receiving pay, as reported by Las Provincias.
Since September, María Martínez explains to La Vanguardia, they have not received any income and the company that hired them – Grupo Scorpio SL – no longer even answers the phone. In fact, the material to clean and replace, such as soap or paper, comes directly from Les Corts, the worker points out. The company also does not cover sick leave or vacations and the tasks accumulate, as does discouragement.
The concessionaire owes each of the workers around 5,000 euros, around 60,000 for the entire workforce, and María continues working, although she knows that this month she will surely not collect it because they have already told her that the Salary Guarantee Fund (Fogasa) does not cover them for so many days, if they manage to recover part of the owed salary.
Faced with this situation, she explains that “some colleagues are going to Cáritas to eat” which is why she regrets that, despite the good words of all the politicians she meets daily, no one gives them a solution. “It’s sad and outrageous,” she confesses during a break in her day while waiting for some reinforcement.
“The president of Les Corts, Llanos Massó, was informed of our situation and told us that it is not her responsibility and that it depends on complex administrative processes, but we are the ones who are going to clean her office and bathroom. “I bathe every day…” he says helplessly. This cleaner does not understand how in a place like Parliament, where laws are made, no one is capable of solving her problem.
What the company owes them represents 0.1% of the entire budget of Les Corts, although Parliament cannot pay the workers directly. “Something is failing in the system and we are the ones harmed,” she says.
From the institution they point out that “the non-payments to the cleaning employees of Les Corts Valencianas depend solely on the concessionaire company, the Scorpio Group.” They add that they have no evidence that this company has filed for bankruptcy or has gone bankrupt, but they point out that “it neither pays nor meets the requirements of its employees or the Valencian Courts.”
Furthermore, the same sources explain, Les Corts ordered the withholding of the amounts owed to the contractor since September before receiving any complaint from the representative of the affected workers. He even terminated the contract and tendered a new one through emergency means “which was left void due to the conviction of the bidders that they would have to assume the non-payments to the workers.”
In this context, sources from the regional Parliament explain that “all possible legal solutions are being sought (including negotiations with several cleaning companies) to solve the problem created by the irresponsibility of the Scorpio group.”
The problem is that, for now, the cleaning workers remain unpaid and face the fifth month without income and with little hope that their situation will be reversed.