- The workers of the company have continued to work this week in the gigantic Basque public work, which has been completed. Most are foreigners who work for outsourced companies and who have difficulty returning to or returning from their country because of the stringent control measures taken by the pandemic.
Although most of the shops and major companies in Euskal Herria have closed their doors, the coronavirus crisis has not yet paralyzed the works of the most controversial and largest infrastructure in this country. Workers working at the TAV have been working from Monday to Wednesday in the Alto Nervión area.
As one witness has explained to ARGIA, in the section between Hernani and Astigarraga, for example, there has been a significant movement until Wednesday and excavators have been working as always moving the land. This section has recently been awarded – leaving several families at risk of homelessness – and a temporary company consisting of the companies Sacyr, Mariezkurrena and Zubieder is being held, mostly through subcontracting.
Most outsourced companies for the construction of the TAV use people from outside and trade unions have repeatedly denounced their precariousness and precarious conditions – as shown in the book Zuloan –. The long trips are made by van from the town of origin to dedicate to the works of the TAV throughout the week, and then the return. Because the coronavirus crisis has closed borders and tightened controls, its situation is being complicated, as under these conditions it is forbidden to circulate. Many have been stagnated and, as ARGIA has learned, some construction workers have not been able to return to their home country.
Since ELA, they have confirmed that, both in the TAV and in most civil works, the works have not been paralyzed and are waiting for what happens after the bridge on March 19, but everything indicates that the constructive activity will continue. On the contrary, if workers cannot be transported under precarious conditions, they will cease to be profitable and could become a problem for companies during the course of the works, according to the same source. This situation shows the exploitation of the works.
Tapia wants to "maintain" the activity
The Basque Government undertook to complete the works of the TAV in 2023, but on February 23, the Infrastructure Minister, Arantxa Tapia, and the Spanish Minister of Development, José Luis Ábalos, did not show any commitment to finish the works on that date.
Tapia, for his part, has pointed out in Radio Euskadi that the referral to the industry of minimum equipment to protect itself from coronavirus contamination “with the aim of maintaining the activity” of the Goerno of Spain.