What has been the impact of the health emergency on your work?
Economically it is what has affected me the most. I live in Tolosa, but when the lockdown was established, my boss told me that I would have to be a domestic worker, because I didn't want to come and go every day from Tolosa for fear of contagion. I answered no. Then, he told me that I had to do something to prevent travel and I had to rent a room for two months in the Old Part of San Sebastian. In Donostia the rooms are very expensive; I pay EUR 250 a month, and I have to keep paying for the house of Tolosa. In addition, I had to come to San Sebastian leaving my family.
Have you received any help from the elders to pay for the room?
No, I continue to pay the same salary; I earn EUR 900 a month. I told him what my intention was, but he told me nothing.
Did your boss make your decision right?
At first he got very angry, but he had to admit it. When I did the job interview, he was looking for an employee from the outside house, and so we were talking. That is what the employment contract says.
You have preferred your spare time.
On the one hand it is a necessity, but on the other it is a right. Man suffers from Alzheimer's and people who suffer from Alzheimer's need a lot of help and a lot of patience. They've got ups and downs and they're nervous because they're not right. That makes you tired. And you need to go out, go home to rest. I've been working as an intern for many years now, and I was in trouble. That's why I chose to be a household employee. However, the truth is that I am better than many of my friends. Internal workers stay in lockdown all year round, which is much worse.
And for the rest, do you feel valued in your work?
The truth is, not 100 percent. I am always based on my contract. And sometimes it demands things that we didn't pick up on in the contract and I get angry when I show it what I've received in the contract. And then I feel bad, I have to shut up and I don't feel respected. But many times I give in to the fear of losing my job and I end up doing what I asked. He quickly sees things that I do wrong, but then he doesn't accept them when he does so.
What would you like to change?
I work on Saturdays and Sundays, as I am getting the certificate of socio-health care of dependents in the Immaculate College, on Fridays and Saturdays in the morning. I would like them to respect my eight hours of work and at least to be public holidays on Sundays, to pay public holidays and to pay all the fees properly. We do a very important job in this society. And they don't value us properly, nobody protects us. Thanks to SOS Racism. I have been in the Basque Country for six years and I have not seen any other kind of organisation supporting people like us. I would like them to value us more, at least by acknowledging the work we do.
