One in three workers staying at home on the Costa Almeria due to coronavirus crisis

AROUND one in three of the 300,000 workers registered with Social Security in Almeria are staying at home due to the state of alarm restrictions decreed by the national government to combat coronavirus, according to the Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) trade union.
“One third are in this situation: they are not working because their companies have closed or they are teleworking at their homes”, Almeria CCOO secretary general Antonio Valdivieso told Spanish press.
“Another third, also made up of 100,000 people, are continuing to work in agriculture, including in handling, and the final one in the rest of the sectors which are obliged to be present in their job posts.”
Most of the union’s own staff are currently working at home, dealing with a large number of enquiries from workers and companies. It has also set up a ‘union advice commission’ in the province, headed by Valdivieso and made up of a team of eight, and with representation in the seven union sectors and legal consultations. The commission is working in continual coordination with the union’s regional and national centres.
Valdivieso told press the greatest number of enquiries they have received have been related to “failure to comply with or deficiencies in safety measures.”
He said CCOO had called on management to comply with all the protocols and is also in permanent contact with Labour Inspection, “which is stepping in, and of course we appeal to all involved to show solidarity, and to workers to comply with all the regulations.”
On a positive note Valdivieso reported that there is “a high level of awareness, and in fact any businesses which to start with lacked some measures, immediately mobilised and the next day the matter was resolved.”
A good number of the complaints to CCOO concerned worker transport given the limits on the number of people allowed to travel on buses at one time and the maximum number of people allowed in private cars.
Other complaints related to a lack of protective materials like face masks, gloves, gels or special suits within companies, as well as failures to comply with minimum distances between people.