– Can you bring water to gate 3?
– Yet the [puerta] 1 water too, please.
– What time do we finish? We need to know.
– And at door 7 water, please.
– If you can bring water to those of us who are on the straight, please.
– In the [puerta] 5 water too.
– Water in the main grandstand. We are getting roasted.
– Please, those of us on the straight are inhumanly hot, the sun is very strong. Are there waters?
– My tongue is a raisin
– (STAFF MEMBER) Guys, we have been informed that there is no water. Hold on (sic) like boars.
This is an excerpt from the chat group that the auxiliary and security workers of the Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prixheld at the Circuit de Montmeló during the weekend of May 20 to 22.
These are hundreds of people (the workers speak of 200) who were hired by the Catalan security company Wakeful, based in the municipality of Mataró. Wakeful is an outside contract from outside the Circuit. It is in charge of managing the personnel of numerous massive events in Catalonia, like concerts at the Palau Sant Jordi or this type of sports competitions, such as the Formula 1 and Moto GP. The personnel that it hires, with the category of auxiliary personnel, is in charge of accommodating in the stands, signaling accesses or controlling entrances.
The problem, denounced by the workers who have contacted this newspaper, is that the company has not complied with the agreement. Neither in terms of working conditions (especially in terms of hydration of people), nor in terms of hours. And in addition, two months after the event, they assure that they have not yet received.
Up to 5 workers from that weekend have given their testimony to this newspaper, where they agree on the main problems they had to confront, especially during the day on Saturday.
Unfulfilled schedule
“To begin with, they did not comply with what they told us about the schedule. They hired us for 9 hours and our schedule ended at 4 in the afternoon. But they already knew that we were not going to finish at that time, because the last race started at 17:40 and they knew it&rdquor ;, says Claudia, one of those affected on that unfortunate Saturday.
“I went to work with my boy. To begin with, they summoned us at 6:30 in the morning, but they made us file from 7. Then they started with the first lie. They told us that at 4:00 p.m. we could leave because we would have finished, when we all know perfectly well that the formula 1 schedules are set from months before the event and the last Formula 2 race started at 17:40. Therefore, at 4:00 p.m., Formula 3 would not have finished, says Aitana, one of those affected.
What was the response to this jet lag? Aitana says that the answer “was given to me by Whatsapp and with bravado & rdquor ;, and shows the response she received from the company: “I guarantee you that I didn’t know and neither did my colleagues, these are things that happen. When I phoned I told you that the scheduled time was 4/4:30 p.m. If you have extended until 18:30, bad luck or more hours to collect on day 5, depending on how you look at it”.
Marc, Aitana’s boyfriend, protests this response: “You can’t talk like that to a worker who has just been working for you for 12 hours. And it hasn’t even been what he told us about “more money to collect on the 5th & rdquor ;, because two months have passed since the event and we still haven’t seen a sad euro. We have also insistedcalling and writing on Whatsapp, but they ignore us”.
Until the night
They also denounce that they were passed over from the company when they saw the outbreak of revolt: “We had a WhatsApp group in which we sent them the complaints, especially with the issue of water. But what they did was change the conditions of the group, so that only the administrators could speak. I mean, them. They prevented us from continuing to write”.
Javi, another of the testimonies consulted by this newspaper, explains that “there were more problems with schedules and transportation. I didn’t have it because I came in my own car. But there were people who had to go on a bus that had been enabled for that. They had to facilitate that transportation. But it was 10 at night and they still hadn’t been taken to their destination. A friend of mine wrote me about that time to tell me that I wasn’t going to go to work the next dayBecause it was very late, I hadn’t gotten home yet, I was exhausted and the next day they started very early & rdquor ;.
In the same way, Javi explains that “they weren’t the only problems in terms of schedule. They wanted him to take only 10 minutes to eat. When I had been 12 they were calling my attention and saying that I had to go back to my post. When I told them that I knew about this type of contract and knew my rights, they let me stay for 20 minutes.”
Rubén, another of the affected workers, showed his last chat intervention, in which he complained (at 10 p.m., when his day ended at 4 p.m.) that no one was giving them solutions: “It’s 10 p.m. and we haven’t gotten home yet.. We won’t be able to sleep enough for tomorrow’s shift, coming home to make dinner and lunch to take to work the next day. In addition to the money lost in transport and taxi, because everything was cut off. And on the Parets and Montmeló train there were people for two hours”
Without water
But the main problem these workers faced, at least during the working day, It was the lack of water. They denounce that the organization did not care to supply bottles to hydrate. That they asked for them and they denied them. And that they had to spend almost half a day in the sun, in the context of the high temperatures that are occurring in Spain these days.
Carlos, another of the workers who has contacted this newspaper, says that “in the part where I was, we did have water, but as if we didn’t because we couldn’t drink it. They had it in a kind of warehouse for the material and that was like a sauna. The water was burning & rdquor ;.
However, he is aware that other of his colleagues “didn’t even have the hot water that we had. I know because I know more workers, because two guys I met told me and because it was the most recurring problem in the WhatsApp group while we were able to talk: everyone asked for water. Spending so many hours in the sun is inhuman& rdquor ;, he concludes.
This newspaper has had access to some of these chat groups, where the agony of many of the workers can be seen. From the “water please, we are burning hot & rdquor; to “I have a tongue like a raisin”, going through “The heat is inhuman and hits very hard, we need water & rdquor;concern about dehydration is the leitmotif of the group.
like boars
“They told us that they would give us bottles of water and such. They gave us a 50cl bottle at 12 noon and a 20-minute break to eat. The worst thing about this is that they They kept lying to you saying that there was going to be water. That in 10 minutes they brought it, that they guaranteed us that there would be more water. But it was not like that & rdquor ;, sentence Marc.
Complaints had no effect. When the company finally accepted that it was not going to deliver the bottles of water that they were requesting, the person who notified the workers by Whatsapp limited himself to telling them that there was not going to be any more water and told them to hold on. “Like boars & rdquor ;.
A problem, on the other hand, that could have ended in disgrace. Especially these days. And it is that the high temperatures have already claimed too many lives in Spain. The calculation of deaths due to the heat wave in Spain was estimated at 510 between July 10 and 16. The Carlos III Health Institute places the maximum peak on last Saturday, attributing 150 deaths to high temperatures.
Without pay
And the last of the problems pointed out by the workers is the really crucial one: they have not been paid. “It is very rare, because I have already worked with Wakeful on other occasions. For example, for the Moto GP championship. I got it on time with no problem. But the F1 thing I have not yet seen a euro & rdquor ;, indicates Javi.
This complaint is widespread. None of the workers with whom this medium has contacted have yet received remuneration for the work carried out. As a general rule, they get paid between the 5th and 10th of the following month (in this case it should have been between June 5th and 10th), but last week two months passed and still no one has paid them.
Laura, another regular of this company, slips that it is not the only event that the company has not paid for; She recounts that “I personally had been paid up to now, although some months it went past day 10. But two or three days at the most. But now it has been passed. From Formula 1 they pay absolutely no one. Neither Formula 1 nor all the events and concerts that have been held afterwards & rdquor ;.
He goes on to say that “I personally did not go to Formula 1, but I have gone to two concerts in June: Camilo’s and Red Hot Chilli Peppers’, which have not paid me and they should have done it from July 5 to 10 & rdquor;, concluding that “I have been to quite a few concerts and events, about 20-25. In all, the organization is horrible. Sometimes I have folded at such a time to work and they have pointed out to me that I have left half an hour before with excuses & rdquor ;.
The same thing that Laura denounces the others. Neither Carlos, nor Javi, nor Aitana, nor Marc have yet seen a penny for their work. “We called, we wrote on Whatsapp… but they always give us long. That it was on its way, that we would receive it shortly, that there were problems with the server… But, in the end, nobody has paid us for our work & rdquor ;, concludes Marc.
company silence
This diary has been put in contact with Wakeful, from where they refused to answer our questions. The only thing that the person in charge declared was that “the workers, what they have to do is contact the company through the corresponding channels and not go to a newspaper & rdquor ;. Regarding defaults, the company spokesman denied “that we have any default with anyone & rdquor ;.
When he was informed that we had spoken with several affected people and that he was required by questions of water and schedules, he remained silent, did not answer those questions and refused to give explanations to this newspaper. “I would tell you not to publish it”was the last thing the person in charge said before hanging up.
Related news
We have also contacted the Circuit de Montmeló several times. But these are bad dates to find someone responsible for these facilities. Both the press person and the lawyer are on vacation, so they have not been able to answer the questions in this newspaper, despite the fact that we have tried by phone and via email.
And meanwhile, the workers continue to fight for what they consider to be an injustice. Not only did they have to endure the infernal heat of a whole day outdoors, with these temperatures and without water. In addition to having seen their unfulfilled schedules, they are now still waiting for someone to pay them or give them the relevant explanations.