He spends hours throughout the day ripping out plasterboard ceilings, iron sheets, useless cables and piling up rubble from Camp Nou construction sites. Mohamed is one of the workers working on the demolition of the stadium Barcelona Football Club. but at night wrapped in a borrowed sleeping bagHe is hiding in the bushes in the garden in front of the club facilities. “I had to sleep on the street because Otherwise I would have lost my job.“, admits the man, who asked to remain anonymous to tell his story to El Periódico de Catalunya of the Prensa Ibérica group.
Mohamed Moroccan is 50 years old and started working on the construction of Camp Nou in June. He lives in a dismal house that’s falling apart, without water or electricity, in Manresa. “For me it is impossible to find a suitable apartment, especially in Barcelona. “They want a deposit, they want a contract… If I’m lucky, I only have enough to eat,” admits the man who trained hard before working at Camp Nou. Precarious jobs in the construction or livestock industry, sometimes without a contract. To go to Barça stadium every day He gets up at five in the morning and travels around the entire metropolitan area by train. with a convoy leaving his town at six o’clock.
Delay and threats
Even though they never paid him, Muhammad worked 14 saturdays Practices at Camp Nou: from 9 June to 8 September. “On Saturdays, we have to enter at eight in the morning and leave at two in the afternoon,” he explains. The first Saturday he had to go to work at the stadium, he arrived 30 minutes late: The first train passes in half an hour more than you usually get.
That day, he told the manager that he had problems with public transportation. Far from finding understanding, faced the threat of losing his job. “The principal told me If I was late again they would throw me out. He forgave me for one day, but not anymore. So from then on I started sleeping on the street. “I didn’t want to be unemployed.”.
without rest
Since then Muhammad has been sleeping 14 nights outdoors, right in front of your workplace. He spends every Friday night in the bushes on the street that separates the northern entrance of the field from the funeral home of Les Corts. “It was scary because you can’t sleep: you mosquitoes bite, there is noise and you are afraid that someone will see you or something will happen to you.” Still, he feels he has no choice. “What do I do if I lose my job? I’m losing everything. You can’t live without working”.
The worst part of those days, he explains, was enduring an extra six hours of work on Saturdays. “I suffered so much because after not being able to rest You start working too hard.“I was so weak and could barely function.” The thing that scared him the most was having an accident and getting injured. “This job is very complicated, you are risking your life. You have to be very careful, very careful. After sleeping on the street you are afraid of the wall breakingIt falls on you and you get hurt because you weren’t paying attention.”
No fee on Saturdays
That’s why he gets uneasy when he realizes this, according to his pay stub: not paid This is not one of the 14 extraordinary days. According to the construction contract, only working Saturdays 1,412.88 euros gross. In reality, he earns a salary of 1,000 Euros a month working on Barcelona’s construction sites and 56 hours each week. “And all this pain for four dollars!I look like a slave!“, he complains. “I don’t know anything, I can’t read or write.” After getting angry, he sits down and tries to calm down. “Well, that’s life. What are you doing? Life is so hard, I’ve suffered a lot. I’m just a worker looking for a piece of bread. I can’t do anything, I can’t say anything because I need a job to live.“I don’t have another one,” he assumes in disappointment.
Last Thursday, Barcelona president Joan Laporta greeted him during the media visit to the works. “He shook my hand and said thank you very much,” Mohamed explains proudly. He says he wants to tell her many things. “That they did something for us and paid us as much as we received.This can’t be happening.” But in the end he didn’t. He was paralyzed as he watched his bosses take photos with Laporta. “This scared and embarrassed me so much.”
He spends hours throughout the day ripping out plasterboard ceilings, iron sheets, useless cables and piling up rubble from Camp Nou construction sites. Mohamed is one of the workers working on the demolition of the stadium Barcelona Football Club. but at night wrapped in a borrowed sleeping bagHe is hiding in the bushes in the garden in front of the club facilities. “I had to sleep on the street because Otherwise I would have lost my job.“, admits the man, who asked to remain anonymous to tell his story to El Periódico de Catalunya of the Prensa Ibérica group.
Mohamed Moroccan is 50 years old and started working on the construction of Camp Nou in June. He lives in a dismal house that’s falling apart, without water or electricity, in Manresa. “For me it is impossible to find a suitable apartment, especially in Barcelona. “They want a deposit, they want a contract… If I’m lucky, I only have enough to eat,” admits the man who trained hard before working at Camp Nou. Precarious jobs in the construction or livestock industry, sometimes without a contract. To go to Barça stadium every day He gets up at five in the morning and travels around the entire metropolitan area by train. with a convoy leaving his town at six o’clock.
Delay and threats
Even though they never paid him, Muhammad worked 14 saturdays Practices at Camp Nou: from 9 June to 8 September. “On Saturdays, we have to enter at eight in the morning and leave at two in the afternoon,” he explains. The first Saturday he had to go to work at the stadium, he arrived 30 minutes late: The first train passes in half an hour more than you usually get.
That day, he told the manager that he had problems with public transportation. Far from finding understanding, faced the threat of losing his job. “The principal told me If I was late again they would throw me out. He forgave me for one day, but not anymore. So from then on I started sleeping on the street. “I didn’t want to be unemployed.”.
without rest
Since then Muhammad has been sleeping 14 nights outdoors, right in front of your workplace. He spends every Friday night in the bushes on the street that separates the northern entrance of the field from the funeral home of Les Corts. “It was scary because you can’t sleep: you mosquitoes bite, there is noise and you are afraid that someone will see you or something will happen to you.” Still, he feels he has no choice. “What do I do if I lose my job? I’m losing everything. You can’t live without working”.
The worst part of those days, he explains, was enduring an extra six hours of work on Saturdays. “I suffered so much because after not being able to rest You start working too hard.“I was so weak and could barely function.” The thing that scared him the most was having an accident and getting injured. “This job is very complicated, you are risking your life. You have to be very careful, very careful. After sleeping on the street you are afraid of the wall breakingIt falls on you and you get hurt because you weren’t paying attention.”
No fee on Saturdays
That’s why he gets uneasy when he realizes this, according to his pay stub: not paid This is not one of the 14 extraordinary days. According to the construction contract, only working Saturdays 1,412.88 euros gross. In reality, he earns a salary of 1,000 Euros a month working on Barcelona’s construction sites and 56 hours each week. “And all this pain for four dollars!I look like a slave!“, he complains. “I don’t know anything, I can’t read or write.” After getting angry, he sits down and tries to calm down. “Well, that’s life. What are you doing? Life is so hard, I’ve suffered a lot. I’m just a worker looking for a piece of bread. I can’t do anything, I can’t say anything because I need a job to live.“I don’t have another one,” he assumes in disappointment.
Last Thursday, Barcelona president Joan Laporta greeted him during the media visit to the works. “He shook my hand and said thank you very much,” Mohamed explains proudly. He says he wants to tell her many things. “That they did something for us and paid us as much as we received.This can’t be happening.” But in the end he didn’t. He was paralyzed as he watched his bosses take photos with Laporta. “This scared and embarrassed me so much.”