“They take advantage of us to make more money”

“You think that if you work at the Camp Nou you are going to earn more or be better off, but it’s not true, it’s just an image,” explains an employee at the stadium.

When he entered work in the Camp Nou works, Mamadou He couldn’t hold back his tears. “I started crying like a child: I remembered my country, he dreamed of Barça & mldr; “I’ve made it, I’m here, my life will change,” he says excitedly. young malian who has worked in the demolition of the Blaugrana stadium. But his face breaks when he realizes that the company that hired him nor does it pay overtime nor does it meet the minimum wage. “You think that if you work at the Camp Nou you will earn more or be better off, but it is not true, it is just an image. “You are like a fly, you are not going to win anything,” Abdala, another employee at the stadium, responds.

Mamadou has a theory that is what keeps him going. This theory says that life is like a ladder that must be climbed little by little. He started at the bottom: he began working as a farmer in Mali, a country immersed in a war. That’s why he risked his life on a boat to the Canary Islands. “To go up the ladder little by little.” When he started to work on the construction of the new Barça stadium he felt that he had climbed three steps at a time. “In my town I couldn’t watch Barça games because they had to pay. “When I was able to be here I thought my life was going to take a turn.”

He works as a specialist laborer 10 hours every day. He charges 1,188.32 euros per month. Are just over five euros an hour. “I didn’t know that… They had me I promised that I would earn 8 euros an hour”, he exclaims. But then she understands. “Of course, that’s why everyone who works here is an immigrant, because they know they have to work hard, they don’t know anything and they can be taken advantage of. “I have been here for a short time, a year and eight months,” she says. “They don’t think about us… But we also have rights, right?”, the young man asks.

3.8 euros per hour

Instead, Mohamed responds with disbelief when he discovers his salary. They told him that he would earn 6.5 euros an hour, but he is charging 3.8. “I was shocked, I swear,” he shoots himself. “I can’t earn this salary, it’s very low, but very low,” he says. “The thing is so I can’t lift my head“I will always have to live crouching, I will never be able to get up,” laments the man, who lives poorly among rubble in an abandoned house in Manresa (Bages) and who some nights has slept on the street, in front of the Camp Nou works, to Don’t be late for work.

But his reflection goes further. “I need a house, a car, to have my family with me, who are all in Morocco… Famous people walk around the Barça stadium, they have many millions. And here we are charging four dollars and suffering. This is life: some have a lot and the rest of us have nothing. “You can’t live like that,” she exclaims. “The money that they are not paying me is theirs to keep, right?,” she asks.

Precariousness and migrants

You are not the only one who has this doubt. “This is not normal nor can it be legal, they are taking our salary, they are taking advantage of us to earn more money,” complains another worker, Ibrahim, from Senegal. No success so faris trying to gather more employees to go and report working conditions in the stadium through a labor union. “These companies know how to play to take advantage of workers,” Abdala responds.

By understanding his payroll, the Moroccan understands why the most of the employees at the stadium are migrants. “Of course Spaniards want to work, but with rights. “That’s why they don’t call them,” she says. “If immigrants did not work in Spain they would be left with nothing, without fruit, without food, without construction… We, immigrants, are where the risk is. If we are not there, this country is entering a crisis,” reflects Mohamed.

“A Spanish-style Qatar”

There are some exceptions, like David, who worked for a month cleaning the entrances to the construction site. “Of course, with the crisis I lost my bar, I have had cancer and a motorcycle accident… And I need to work, I am full of debt. And when you approach 50 it is much more difficult and you grab onto the first thing you find, explains this resident of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat who lives with his mother in Anoia. “During this time I have seen how the Camp Nou workers are treated: no one is happy, but they have no other choice. I have always been a Barça fan, but after seeing the works inside… “I think I’ll join Madrid,” continues the cleaner.

Mamadou, after the myth of the Barça and from his successful life in Europe, he only hopes to find another, better job. No reporting it, not even getting advice. “I’m afraid of being kicked out, “I’m going to hold on until I find something better,” he says. “This is a Spanish-style Qatar: the people who are going to work at the Camp Nou works think they are going to become millionaires. But no, we are always down. Those who make money at our expense are the others. The sooner you get used to the idea… “better,” Abdala responds.