Labor Inspector of the Generalitat Camp Nou has completed most of its activities in its work and detected irregularities or fraud. Approximately twenty of nearly 45 subcontractor companies Until now they were active in the construction of the new Barça stadium. ‘Labor police’ were able to detect incompatibilities about half of the companies These studies included the abuses revealed last November by EL PERIÓDICO of the Prensa Ibérica group. Specifically, subcontractors are not paying the corresponding amount to their employees or Social Security, so the audit demands that they pay the outstanding money to the employees.
Wages below contract and undeclared working hours are the main errors that the team of sub-inspectors from the Generalitat’s Labor Department was able to document among the companies it subcontracted. Limakaffiliated Turkish construction company Barcelona Football Club commissioned reform Camp Nou. These are the same crimes reported by dozens of workers interviewed in a five-month investigation. This information forced the Government and Parliament to turn a magnifying glass to the work being carried out on the Arístides Maillol Boulevard in Barcelona.
In recent weeks, the labor agency started to notify the companies it identified. fraud or irregularities consequences of their actions. They submit the necessary conditions to correct the errors found and make payment. pending offers and they pay part of the salary to their employees fees to be paid. Each company must take responsibility for its own irregularities and no final figure has been specified; but considering the size of the job and the hundreds of workers involved, adding up all the quantities, the amount may be as follows, according to the different sources consulted: hundreds of thousands of euros.
working days more than 10 hours a day -more than 50 hours per week – but only for salaries exceeding this figure 1,000 euros monthly. These were the main irregularities that EL PERIÓDICO was able to detect among subcontracting companies for the construction of Camp Nou. These companies did not apply the relevant contract to their employees and their pay slips were always poorly prepared to the detriment of the worker and the amounts were clearly below the amount specified in the collective construction agreement of the province of Barcelona. According to the payslips available to this media, the loss of wages reached the following level: 600 gross euros per month.
This is an unlawful disposition for contracting companies in terms of both the salaries that the workers do not receive and the contributions that they do not pay to the employer. Social Security. They also found discrepancies between payslips and the income employees received from their bank accounts. For the last few weeks, the Labor Inspectorate has been demanding that companies rectify this situation and pay their debts to each other. And this complaint represents a reduction in workers’ wages today, fewer resources for the public treasury, and less potential disability or retirement benefits for workers in the future.
While answering the questions from this medium, the Turkish society only said, “Limak is in constant communication with the labor institution and will wait for the final results out of respect for the Labor Inspection.”
“As the public knows, the Inspection has carried out various inspection activities in the Camp Nou works. The actions resulting from these inspections are still at a non-final stage and are therefore framed in confidentiality, except for the mandatory information provided to it. Sources from the Ministry of Labor say that “the parties will continue the proceedings.”
All details are in the Parliament
This is not the first time the ‘labor police’ have detected irregularities at the Camp Nou, but this is the biggest series of actions yet. Already in September last year, during a routine inspection, labor agency officials found that an employee of another company, Pak Reforma Y Obra SL, was impersonating another person’s identity. And the worker who actually goes to work does not have permission.
Identity theft is a practice that occasionally occurs in the healthcare industry. structure. Workers with experience at various construction sites explained to this medium that it is common in such situations for an undocumented person to have to rent permits to someone else in exchange for a percentage of their salary. When initially asked about this by the media, Limak denied that the Audit had detected any irregularities. The contractor later admitted that the labor authority had caught the subcontractor ‘red-handed’ and dismissed him.
Now the labor authority has notified or has already notified the majority of the requirements and each company must decide whether to pay its debt or appeal and prosecute its case; This will determine how quickly and whether this first stage of the trial can be closed. Barça is not responsible for matters related to Social Security, Limak, the company that made the tender and subcontracted its activities, is responsible. If any of the subcontractors fail to pay, the Turks must ultimately be responsible.
The team of sub-inspectors tasked with supervising the work of Camp Nou collected the bulk of the evidence supporting its requirements in the macro operation carried out on 22 November 2023 (two days after the information published by EL PERIÓDICO). They are now in the final stages of administrative procedures to be able to provide sufficient information to the director general of the Generalitat Labor Inspectorate. Maria Luz BatallerThe participation of political groups represented in the Parliament of Catalonia was requested.
The Empresa i Treball commission, which will be on hand to make a statement, has several outstanding issues, such as the amount of public funds the Generalitat has allocated to the Formula 1 circuit or what happened with the accident at the Súria mine in April. Last year’s disaster claimed the lives of three workers. According to parliamentary sources consulted, the director general’s appointment could take place before the end of March.