Workers of the Spanish pizza restaurant chain Telepizza have supported the strike started by their colleagues from Glovo, Deliveroo and Uber Eats. Eleven Telepizza workers were sanctioned for refusing to work in unprotected environments, while their protest in Madrid was dispersed by Madrid police. The next step of government is reopening the schools, and the vast majority of workers oppose this policy.
The coronacrisis made workers from Telepizza chain to draw attention to their working environment. Across Spain, strikes and protests are growing against the Socialist Party, whose leaders send millions of non-essential workers back to work, no matter the death toll.
On April 18, Telepizza workers went on strike, called by the General Confederation of Labour. They are striking against management’s decision to impose disciplinary sanctions on 11 workers, including suspending them from employment and wages for 20 days, after they refused to work without personal protective equipment and health/safety standards under COVID-19 epidemic.
Spanish workers urge for health and safety equipment for normal work
Telepizza workers have been denouncing the lack of health and safety equipment for weeks. Since announcing the lockdown, Telepizza was classified as an “essential service” despite vast of its staff opposed this.
The following day, workers in Palencia decided to not go to work. As El Norte de Castilla newspaper said, most of the workers agreed not to go to work because they consider it unsafe and they were not offering an essential service, like supermarkets.
On Thursday, workers from Glovo, Deliveroo and Uber Eats also struck in Seville, Malaga and Cartagena. These courier services demand that purchase, pick up, and deliver meals and food products should be done with respective protective equipment. Alas, the companies have refused so far, claiming the workers are independent contractors and therefore the company is not required to cover these costs.
Spain: left-wing populist party Podemos faced troubles
The Podemos party faces now the growing opposition among workers to their back-to-work policy amid the COVID-19 outbreak, and highlights the growing sentiment in ruling circles to use the army against the population.
The role of Podemos, which includes significant sections of the officer corps within its ranks, is a warning to workers in Spain and internationally.
In fact, it could be critical to fighting for the formation of rank-and-file action committees in workplaces and factories, to fight to defend lives and livelihoods and to build a new revolutionary leadership in the working class fighting for a socialist perspective against Podemos.
As the political experts suggest, only through the formation of such committees can the Spanish working class fight to halt all non-essential production, and provide protection to all workers in essential industries.
