Week 5

Building Bridges

As I reported on my last blogpost (Week 4), I was able to participate in a demonstration alongside several SEDOAC members in front of the Spain’s Palace of Congress. There, a group of demonstrators joined with domestic workers and caregivers to demand an amendement to be eliminated. Amendment 6777 would delay their access to the general regiment of the Spanish Social Security until 2024.

It is through the multilateral coordination of events like the one I attended this past Wednesday (06/27) that organizations seeking more recognition in the political arena negotiate their ‘right to the city’, as conceptualized by David Harvey.  These solidarity linkages created with like-minded groups allow them to contest for a  more “democratic control over the production and utilization of the surplus.” Demonstrations and protests not only allow for groups in a similar condition to join forces, but also for members of civil society at large to join a cause and demonstrate allyship. 

The ‘right to the city’ is only attained gradually. For SEDOAC’s, the translation of this aim in the political realm results in having to negotiate with different political parties. Some immediately disregard the cause and others are more likely to hear about it. In the current political juncture, SEDOAC needs to demand the newly-appointed left-leaning government (Partido Socialista Obrero Español-PSOE) to un-do an amendment left by the outgoing conservative incumbent (Partido Popular-PP). 

A short note contextualizing the current political atmosphere in Spain. The PP has been in office 15 of the last 20 years. Mariano Rajoy, the outgoing president, was elected in 2011. After 7 years in office, Rajoy was removed by a vote of no-confidence on June 1 of this year, with Pedro Sánchez from the PSOE being sworn in the following day. 

Now, more than ever, ‘the right to the city’ presents the need to strategize effectively. However, the critical juncture is a double-edged knife: the change of administration presents both an opportunity and a threat. Below, a translation on the coverage given to the by the newspaper El País. 

_______________________________

The Cleaners’ Revolt

Domestic workers mobilize to end with years of discrimination. Their latest battle: knock down an amendment that postpones the improvement of their labor rights.

Author: Luis Doncel @LDoncel / Translation and Transcription: Vaclav Masek 

(All rights reserved to El País ©Ediciones El País S.L.)

Translated transcript of the video:

Domestic workers protest in front of Congress

Crowd chants: “Because without us, the world does not move!”

Graciela Gallego – Domestic Worker: We are here, in front of the Plaza de las Cortes, women who are domestic workers and caregivers, because we want the current government to eliminate the amendment that the Popular Party left us from the country’s General Budget. The amendment presented by the Grupo Popular has delayed the equalization of rights of the domestic sector until the year 2024.

Crowd chants: “This amendment is shit!”

MADRID – 1 JUL 2018 – 10:53 EDT

The scene took place this week in front of the Palace of Congress. Hailing from different places, Graciela, Rafaela, Marta and many other women from different age groups greeted each other with extended kisses, hugs, and questions like ‘how are you doing, beautiful?’ One offered cherries from her Tupperware. Another said that she had to eat after working all day, otherwise she would faint. They were prepping up for the next challenge: gathering as many other colleagues as possible in order to exert pressure in the best possible way. Upon being asked about the expected crowd size, one attendee responded that over 100,000. “It is true though—each of us are worth ten people”, she added with a more serious tone, almost adopting a heroine persona.

“I started as an activist after I was told that I did not have the right to take holidays off,” said an interna.

All of them—domestic workers and caregivers—had reunited in Madrid, after years of discrimination and invisibility, to demand the same rights as the rest of workers. Demands as simple as unemployment benefits, a collective bargaining agreement, and other tools that shields a sector where abuses are abundant. Over 600,000 people—where over 96% are women; around a third do not belong to the Social Security system; and a large part, impossible to quantify, is of migrant origin—who tirelessly work by cleaning houses or caring for the elderly, children or the disabled. And whom now have said enough.

Their latest battle has a proper name, Amendment 6777, presented this last May by the Popular Group—a coalition that included the Popular Party (PP), Citizens (Ciudadanos), the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), Nueva Canarias, Foro Asturias, and the Navarra People’s Union (Unión del Pueblo Navarro)—for the General Budgets of the State. This initiative delays the equalization of the contribution system of the domestic employees to the general Social Security system for five more years—from Jan. 1, 2019 to Jan. 1, 2024. The affected group states that this way, a very delicate situation is prolonged for five more years.

The Popular Group justified the amendment as an attempt to “prevent a series of negative effects,” like the generation of new obligation for domestic workers.” However, for lawyer Natalia Slepoy, this document supposes “a comparative grievance that is going to suppose greater gaps in contribution for a sector where retirement is very uncommon, since employment without contract is very habitual.”

Domestic workers already took an important step in 2011 when they secured a commitment to introduce them into the general Social Security system. But then, a new special regime was agreed with less rights than the universal ones. And for matters such as contributions, a transitory period that was set to conclude next year has now been postponed to 2024. In addition, important factors such as unemployment benefits, the inclusion of a law of occupational risks or formulas to avoid free and unprotected layoffs were beyond the reach of these women.

Graciela Gallega came to Spain from Colombia on a Saturday thirteen years ago. On Monday, she was already taking care of “the abuelita.” Since then, this 59-year-old woman has not stopped taking for a walk, cleaning or accompanying elderly people in her work as an interna. “I’ve only had three employers throughout these years. Not long ago I buried the elderly lady who I was working with for over six years. Now, I’m looking for a new family. I am unprotected”, she explains. In her last job, Gallego would charge 950 Euros for 24 hours of dedication to this elderly woman; she had a 36-hour break that started on Saturday morning and finished on Sunday evening.

Gallego has only good things to say about the families she has worked with. Despite this, it has been a decade since she realized the hardships she endured, which pushed her towards activism. One day, something clicked and she understood that in order to improve her living conditions she had to organize with other women in her position. What was the tipping point? “Holidays. We were told we did not have a right to them”, she responds.

New Feminist Wave

During the demostration in front of Congress this past Wednesday, groups of women brandished mops or toilet brushes at the cry of “Because without us, the world does not move”. The day’s protagonists admit that the new feminist wave that last March 8^th filled the streets of Spain with women has given new strength to their fight. “Care has been a fundamental axis of the feminist marches. And that includes both the care that is provided in the families and those that the workers do. We need a reorganization of society that takes into account the absolute feminization and invisibilization of care. These two struggles are intertwined,” says Slepoy.

Just like Gallego, Marta Arboleda is Colombian and was employed as an interna domestic worker. Tired of an exclusive commitment that consumed all of her time, Marta abandoned that position over a year ago. “Even though I was with a big family, I realize that I did not have a life. As an interna, you live for your employers. And when you have your break on weekends, the only thing you want to do is rest,” Arboleda explains in one of the only available moments she had between her address and the flash mob featuring songs by Shakira, Chayanne, and Raphael, reinterpreted with empowering lyrics.

“In a lot of places, you get condescending looks when people hear your accent and know wherE you work. Thus, it is here, with my compañeras, where I must be. Associations are the only way to achieve changes,” concludes Gallego, Arboleda’s compatriot.  

The Government Evaluates How to Expand Their Rights

The domestic worker’s plight puts the Government in a difficult position.  On one side, Minister of Work Magdalena Valerio underlines the need to expand the rights of this collective. But at the same time, the difficulty of taking immediate is recognized among her team, especially when this year’s public expenses have been limited by the budget left by the outgoing PP. “These are not our budgets. We disagree with them. But we asume that we need to govern with them,” states the Minister.

Meanwhile, the Government is evaluating what measures to implement in order to address the demands of domestic workers and caregivers. The Ministry of Work states that they will work to ratify the 189^th Convention of the International Labor Organization (ILO)—signed in 2011 and ratified by 25 countries but not by Spain—in order to expand their rights. “The will of the Minister is to study the development and cost of this agreement, taking into account that this year’s spending is very limited,” say sources in the Ministry.