After the announcement of his case by a dozen workers working for the cleaning company Limpieza Arana - Fernández Aguilar, the Bilbao Self-Defense Network began a conflict with the company on 26 November. The network sent the entrepreneur a letter stating its demands and expressed its intention to strengthen the public character of the conflict in case of non-compliance with them. In the absence of a response from the company until today, they have decided to take another step in the conflict and on Monday they will conduct a concentration at the doors of the company’s headquarters, as announced in a press conference last Monday. “Build class solidarity! Under the motto “Limpieza Arana – Fernández Aguilar, exploitative”, he called on the citizens to meet at 18:00 on Matiko 2 Street. Beyond denouncing the abuses suffered by the staff who have contacted the network, they will denounce the situation of the entire workforce.

Dismissed worker

The working woman who approached the network expressed her intention to report her case, so the conflict began. The Self-Defense Network, for its part, pointed out the reasons why the conflict should be fostered: the worker has been working without a contract, although he has frequently demanded the contract, to regularize his situation; the entrepreneur has applied economic sanctions for “not properly cleaning his homes”, without evidence or arguments; they have forced him to perform unpaid work; they have forced him to work even when he has been ill; and they have demanded flexibility.

To all these abuses, the network added another factor that has further worsened the worker’s situation: the workload for the worker and, consequently, the one-month wage “has been fully proportionate to the employer’s will”. And that, as you have emphasised, has given way to a more dependent employment relationship.

With the onset of the conflict, the work environment of the worker deteriorated and the worker was dismissed. At first, the director started a defamation campaign against the worker, with his co-workers, the owners of the houses he cleaned, and also with the owner of the home in which he lives. Workplace harassment was low, and in the short term the company dismissed the worker without paying the salary for the month of November.

Three times vulnerable for being a woman, migrated and working

In publicizing the labor conflict of the former worker of Limpieza Arana, the Self-Defense Network also denounced that companies in the domestic work sector take advantage of the feminization of the sector, which allows them to devalue wages, worsen working conditions and “increase the gap between the different layers within the working class”, and the vulnerable situation of migrant workers, favoring labor relations with slavery.

“In the face of the different oppression the working class suffers, we want to stress the need to talk about the unit of class,” the reading network explained. By the way, they have pointed out that “in the context of the crisis we are experiencing, it is more necessary than ever to increase the defence capabilities of the proletariat in order to be able to respond jointly to the aggressions we suffer in daily life”.

Testimony of the worker

"In 2019, at the end of July, I started working in the cleaning of Fernández Aguilar, tourist homes, homes and finished works. The company manager explained to me what I would be paid for an hour and the working conditions. During the employment relationship, I was forced to work without a contract, although I asked for it several times.

Once I started working, I realized that my journey was not the one agreed upon. Time and salary were very variable, and I paid less than half of what I would have to collect in a few months. In addition, the working conditions were very harsh: the cleaning of the houses was awarded to me at any time, without prior warning, and they also pressured me to be ill to work. I know my health has worsened because of working conditions. However, knowing that I wasn't going to have income if I didn't work, I kept with them.

By September, the company withheld my salary and only paid me one third of what I was entitled to. After several complaints I finally managed to collect, albeit late, part of what I was owed. Since then, in the months of December and January I had two further discounts for alleged cleaning failures.

In 2020, after the lockdown, the company decided to continue with random salary discounts, without taking into account the situation experienced by the workers: only with the minimum income that came to us to pay the rent.

When I started to claim my rights, the company decided to lower working hours and to make a workplace harassment through one of its leaders. Finally, I went to the Bilbao Self-Defense Network to fight for my rights.

When the public campaign against the company began, the boss slandered me before my peers, the homeowners, and also my housewife, who has made several calls in recent weeks. Furthermore, he has fired me and has not paid me the last salary in November. As long as I am not paid for all the money I owe, the entrepreneur is still invoicing large amounts per month. I will continue to fight with the help of the Workers' Self-Defense Network until I pay for what I owe."