Last week was reported on the death of a cook at the Sagartoki restaurant in Vitoria-Gasteiz, where he died hours later. In this restaurant, from August 8 to 10, an outbreak of community-acquired COVID-19 infection was detected. As a result of this contagion, one of the cooks in the area died last Thursday from the illness he suffered. The ESK trade union has denounced the facts and has shown its solidarity both with the victim’s relatives and with the rest of the people who continue to be admitted to the hospital.

The trade union has given some thoughts on what is happening in the sector. “The consequences of the pandemic are being very important in a sector as precarious as hospitality,” they stressed.

Hospitality problems

In the face of workplace infections, workers or hospitality customers “cannot worry about preventive measures being excellent”. In addition, the case of the restaurant Sagartoki demonstrates that these preventive measures “are not enough”.

ESK has been “concerned” about the increased recruitment of staff in many hospitality centres. In fact, it is the same people who perform their usual duties and the applications of preventive measures against COVID-19 infection, without strengthening them with sufficient staff. “Stress is great and so much pressure is not acceptable,” the union regrets.

Precariousness

ESK denounces the “precariousness of workers in the sector”, stressing that the problem already existed before the COVID-19 pandemic. Administrations have not yet addressed the problem of irregular recruitment that has normalised in much of the sector. During confinement, for example, many illegally working workers have lost almost all income.

For its part, ESK has also warned of the existence of "contradictory rules" in the sector. While "criminalized leisure", the union has explained that not the whole sector creates community risk: “Is there more risk in the hospitality industry than in the big factories? It is not a matter of limiting hours, but of controlling and supervising that all the necessary preventive measures are taken to prevent outbreaks in the hospitality industry and in the other sectors.”

Misleading practices

Far from correcting fraudulent practices, the union has denounced that many entrepreneurs have “deepened” these kinds of irregular trends, “taking advantage of situations of great economic need for many workers.”

Faced with this, they have appealed to workers to denounce those places where the necessary preventive measures are not taken and to defend “their right to health and life”.