Arrested an employer for exploiting eight workers in Bizkaia
- These are four migrant workers, who had neither residence permit nor contract, and who have been welcomed. The company Ajos y Onilas del Txorierri de Zamudio, Gipuzkoa, has reported that the cruise ship manufacturer forces them to work for 26 hours in a row and forces them to work. The entrepreneur, who has testified before the court, has denied the accusations and denied the alleged irregularities in his complaint.
The National Police has arrested an entrepreneur in Zamudio (Bizkaia) accused of exploiting his employees in a company in the Biscay locality. The eight workers were engaged in food packaging and handling at the company Ajos and Onions del Txorierri, located in the industrial estate of Ugaldeguren.
Four of them were immigrants. They did not have residence permits or contracts, and the entrepreneur used them to maintain vulnerable working conditions. The workers had to do “marathons”: from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. the following day. According to the complaint, they were forced to work for 26 hours in a row, to which they gave five euros for each of the working hours.
The immigrants, who slept in the same company, could not provide data about the company or its location, explained the sources. Although they suffered a work accident, when they went to the doctor, the factory owner forced them not to report the accident A.Rodriguezek.
The Biscayan businessman, for his part, has described as "false" the accusations against him. Eldiario.es explained to the media that it is true that he had four workers without a contract, but that he did not exploit anyone. "I think the long day we set them in motion is a lie. It's not that. Here people would come to work when they wanted and leave when they wanted. No one has worked 26 hours in a row.” For his part, Rodríguez blames a person within the company for what happened: complaints are a plan designed to harm the prestige of Ajos and Onions del Txorierri.
Research
The Government's delegation to the CAV announced last Wednesday that it was the workers who reported the employer to the police. They came to the headquarters of the National Police in Bilbao and told them what was happening in the operation. Before 17 August, agents of the Bilbao Aliens and Borders Brigade and officials of the Bizkaia Labour and Social Security Inspectorate entered the workshop.
Looking at the judgment
After giving a statement to the Police, the employer has been released without bail after making a statement. But he must still appear before the court: he is charged with an offence against the rights of workers and can be punished with a fine of EUR 70,000 for breaching social security and labour law. In the meantime, the investigators have identified as protected witnesses the workers who have filed the complaint, in order to avoid reprisals in the area.
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