A few weeks ago, Former mayor of PamplonaCristina Ibarrola made a mistake that caused a scandal: “I would rather brush the stairs than become mayor with the votes of EH Bildu.” The exit from the pot provoked angry reactions from the majority of progressive parties. It also motivated analysis about elitism and the distance between politics and the real street. However, this information snake coincided with one of the other, more serious, incidents on the radar. This is the situation of the cleaning workers of Las Corts. They have not received salary for 5 months So far, no one in the representative assembly of the Valencians has found a solution to these problems.
This isn’t the first time something similar has happened. At the Government Panel, a year and a half ago, employees reported that they had been working “for free” because the company did not pay. This is not a Valencian phenomenon either: employees of the Cortes cafeteria in Castilla y León had the same problem with the same company. Scorpion Groupthe missing one.
There was a time when politics seemed determined to honor this sector and gain prestige. These were the days of the pandemic when the importance of many ‘invisible’ links in the social mechanism (cleaners, waste collectors or transporters) was revealed. Them “necessary”, without his work neither hospitals, nor streets, nor supermarkets could function; some thankless work that prevents daily collapse. “It seemed like we were no longer Cinderella in the pandemic. They told us: ‘The cleaner it is, the more valuable it is. We have already forgotten“, says Raquel Rodríguez, head of the UGT Cleaning sector, regrets that this situation has occurred in such a symbolic institution as Corts Valencianes.
Unstable situations continue after the epidemic. The latest sectoral contract for cleaning in public and private buildings confirms that a cleaner is stuck in a minimum wage environment. And this was signed after months of blockade and conflict. Salaries increased by 10.5 percent by 2025, and some ‘previous conquests’, such as working days or holidays, were maintained. Despite everything, wages remain at almost subsistence level: 994 euro gross base salary For a worker or cleaner in 2024. This is for those on a 39 hour contract. For example, 765 euros with 30 hours. Just because of their blocking capacity in the healthcare sector certain plus: 215 Euros per month in hospitals; 112, in health centres.
With these figures, the monthly salary remains below the minimum. In 2024 the SMI rises to 1,134 euros; This corresponds to 15,876 euros gross per year in 14 payments. The floor in the cleaners’ agreement with 15 payments does not reach 15,000 per year. For those who cannot reach this legal threshold due to lack of seniority or other concepts, companies have an obligation to regulate their situation.
This is a risky scenario. First of all, in an industry highly feminized, in many cases this is the only paycheck coming home. And with hard, repetitive, powerful work: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome It is the only known occupational disease.
A huge market
It is difficult to talk about the cleaning industry without doing a detailed analysis. public sector responsibility, is where most of this activity takes place. For decades, management has preferred to outsource. This created an important market. There is more than one in the province of Valencia alone 22,000 people in cleaning companies (public and private buildings). If scaled up, the numbers are huge: 36,000 companies across Spain, 570,000 people working in those companies, 2% of employees and 1.05% of GDP.
Public contracts represent more than 40% of activity in the sector between central government, autonomies and municipal councils. Apart from corporate centers, there are tens of thousands of health centers, hospitals, schools and public companies. Tenders were held in 2021 almost 8,000 public tenders cleaning services: approximately 160 per province, for tender amount almost 9.6 billionThe Aspel employers’ association, which represents major Spanish multi-service groups, declined to participate in this report, as reported on its website.
Company demands
In every conflict like the one in Corts, public representatives pass responsibility to the contracting company Grupo Scorpio. And as a general trend, companies criticize the scarcity of resources in public procurement. A few months ago employers requested changes such as: deindexing law reformThey noted that “these increases (inflation, increase in SMI, energy) are reflected in the cleaning contracts already in force, ensuring that public administrations can continue to provide quality services without risking the stability of thousands of workers.”
They also want the obligation to comply with the rules to be eliminated. extension of public contracts; Changes in contract criteria to apply not only the most economical offer but also price-quality in accordance with European directives.
Meanwhile, there are women at the center. Despite the progress made through collective bargaining, they cannot shake the feeling of abandonment from the workplace. “Without us, everything would stop. Especially in the field of Health. During the pandemic, no healthcare worker entered any box without a cleaner first entering it. “This seems incredible in institutes, schools, nurseries and administrations.” ““We are invisible”Raquel Rodríguez complains especially in situations like the one in Las Corts: “It seems incredible that it is the center.”
Twenty employees of the Las Corts cleaning service were last paid in September. They have been waiting for a solution from the camera since then. Las Corts stopped paying its contract company, Grupo Scorpio, until the end of January, when a resolution was due, the chamber told the group. “The company is leaving on the 29th. The contract ends. We don’t have a company on the 30th. We don’t know what will happen to us,” says a spokesman for the group. According to the same sources, there were already problems in the previous contract. Actually it has changed. With the current one, they started experiencing delays at the beginning of the year. Debt is increasing. There are currently five payrolls and so far there has been no resolution from the Courts. As they head to Fogasa, an unstable situation is escalating, leading some workers to turn to Cáritas.