The big hot weather that opened the summer in Spain faced the first indefinite strike in the country in Inspection and Social Security. The strike, called across the country for non-compliance with the improvements agreed in 2021, makes it difficult to oversee the implementation of the Labor Department’s decree last May, which regulates mandatory working hours to prevent heat stroke. From the Ministry of Yolanda Díaz, “some minimum services dealing with emergencies and actions where the presence of investigators is necessary”. This Sunday, a 47-year-old man with previous pathologies died for the first time from heat stroke, as confirmed by the Andalusian Ministry of Health. in the countryside In the municipality of Aznalcóllar (Seville).
The decree, which went into effect last May, leaves companies to comply with regulatory measures to prevent accidents due to heatstroke. The union delegate of each company that must object to the inspection in case of non-compliance with the measures. The rule dictates that Inspector should appear within 24 hours and take measures ranging from sanctions of 6,000 to one million euros to a complete cessation of activity. The unions admit that the inspection strike reduced the number of workers, but encouraged the enforcement of the executive order.
According to the State Meteorological Service (Aemet), it’s about regulating activity in the face of activating heat waves. red or orange warning. In this case, we are in different parts of the Spanish geography. Seville, Cordoba, Jaen, also some points of Extremadura or Castilla La Mancha. This Tuesday, the Sumar candidate and Minister of Labor are meeting with climate activists, scientists and workers affected by the heatwaves.
Jose of MorenaUGT Aragón Secretary for Union and Industrial Policy was one of the union’s representatives who negotiated this decree and called for mandatory measures to be taken in case of orange or red alert due to high temperatures. The most important of these is to organize the working day to avoid exposure to the time intervals when thermometers show their highest peaks. “These are preventative measures to avoid this effect and can go so far as to paralyze activity,” he explains. They were registered in Spain last year Six deaths and more than eleven directly related to heatstroke in the pit suffer serious consequences. The first case of the great July wave, an advertising delivery mand, the second is that of a cleaning worker at the Madrid municipal company. “These are technical and organizational measures that companies have to comply with, from arranging programs to clothing changes, clothing suitable for heat, light colors and fresh fabrics, or the obligation to guarantee hydration with fresh water throughout the day. or provide sun protection”, explains the person in charge of UGT. Mandatory measures must be taken by the company and the employer has a ‘careful’ responsibility, but if these are not followed the Labor inspection must intervene immediately. And sometimes it has to change the municipal regulations, adapting the schedules of certain activities, for example, construction works.
102,000 letters
The Ministry sent more than 102 thousand letters across the country this year in sectors such as agriculture, construction and construction, where activities are carried out outdoors. waste collection, delivery, hospitality, etc.. More than 23,000 letters were sent in Andalusia. In addition, the Ministry asserts that the Inspection did not wait for the heat wave to act and received “over 4,000 service orders”.
Apart from those regulated by this pioneering Decree, which is mandatory throughout the country, there are two sectors that have been implementing measures with collective bargaining agreements for years. in case of agriculture The agreement applies to the entire country and imposes a seven-hour working day from seven in the morning to two in the afternoon to avoid the hottest hours. The non-compliance they accept from UGT is more than other industries became a reference like construction. you know a lot about it Juan Antonio Castrogeneral secretary of the construction and industry sector of UGT Seville in charge The first agreement signed in 200023 years ago, construction contractor Gaesco imposing the busy working day in the hottest months. Today, it is a reference model. Only this Monday, daylight saving time came into effect. Studies throughout the state of Seville, 7.30 – 14.30. It enters into force on the same date in other Andalusian provinces such as Granada, Jaén and Córdoba. According to the agreements agreed in the collective bargaining in Huelva, which has been in effect since 15 June, it will enter into force on 3 July in Cádiz and in Almería on 31 July. No deal only in Malaga. 228,000 construction workers across Andalusia will benefit from this arrangement.
23 years after a pioneering agreement for the entire country with the construction employers’ association in Seville, Castro acknowledges that compliance is now very high. “It cost blood, sweat and tears”remember, but last year in Seville 65,000 workers “just registered 23 complaints, a small percentage”. Now, violations of the new Labor Law have been registered, first of all, in the service sector, where the regulation is new. A spokesperson for the UGT in Seville says the big construction companies are sticking to the busy schedule to the letter, and “micro-companies with three to five employees mean non-compliance.”
On-site inspections have already started from the construction federation, as it has been every year for twenty years. “Companies are already very aware,” he says, although they are on the alert. They’ve also been pioneers in setting peak hours so workers don’t have to eat at work during the pandemic. “Unfortunately, there is still a lot to do with occupational risk prevention in Seville in a dark year 2021, with 22 deaths in construction and 16 deaths last year,” Castro recalls, sometimes warning that “the workers themselves act negligently.” this is black data.