The Equality Commission and the Works Committee of the 112 emergency service have publicly denounced three cases of sexual and workplace harassment in the center of the Barcelona Free Trade Zone, all three with several people affected. As they explain, one of the cases, of sexual and workplace harassment, is prosecuted and affects a manager in the period of the telemarketing company that provided the service before the current one. Another case, of workplace harassment, has caused the company to admit “abuse of power”, but it was the victim who had to “change shifts”. The third case, of sexual harassment, involves, according to the same source, another coordinator, who “took advantage of the work environment” to suggest that the workers maintain relations with him.
The sources who report the case affirm that this coordinator has a private activity outside of 112 through which he takes “nude photographs,” while “maintaining a lot of sexual activity on the Internet.” To the girls, they claim, he also suggested taking photos, in addition to maintaining relationships with them.
Both the Equality Commission and the 112 Business Committee assure that there are “several people who file a complaint with the company” and that they are aware of inappropriate conduct by the coordinator with “up to eight very sensitive situations.”
The chain of responsibilities “has been failing for years”
Regarding the first case reported, that of sexual and workplace harassment that is prosecuted, involves “several victims” and was reported at the time of the telemarketing company that managed the service before the current one. The Works Council affirms that this company did not act.
He also regrets that despite the judicialization, “the entire chain of responsibilities has been failing for years” and has caused the problems to “not be resolved in time”, as well as the “inappropriate conduct being reproduced and paid for by the workers committed to defenselessness” and looking for a legal means to do justice.”
Screams, mockery and nicknames
The Works Committee also reports that the case of workplace harassment affects “more than one victim”, who suffered “screams” inside the emergency room by a manager, apart from “opinions about the private life” of the workers. , “teasing, nicknames” or other derogatory attitudes, such as “ignore them when they speak even if this harms the emergency call in progress.”
According to the complainants, there are “many witnesses who corroborate the facts,” to the point that the company that currently manages the service “admits abuse of power.” However, they regret that it was the victim who had to change shifts and seek “psychological support and mechanisms to handle the situation as best she can.”
“The telemarketing company, both by omission, by not undertaking effective prevention measures, and by action, has unprotected the victims with the health damage that this entails,” the complainants emphasize.
Strike since January
As explained by the Works Committee, 112 depends on the public company CAT112, which in turn depends on the Department of the Interior, and this public firm subcontracts the room staff to the telemarketing company Serveo. This structuring, the complainants believe, means that neither of the two companies “assume responsibilities” in management or personnel.
The workers in the center of the Free Trade Zone have been on strike since last January, a consequence, according to the Business Committee, of job insecurity and working conditions, circumstances to which “cases of harassment must be added.”
“We are aware of all three cases”
For its part, the public company CAT112 has issued a statement in which it assures that they are “aware of three cases, one prior to the management of this direction and two more recent” and that in all of them the company “has worked with the company “provider of the service to clarify the facts and so that the appropriate measures are taken.”
Regarding the first case, “from the CAT112 Directorate, together with the legal and equality offices of the Department of the Interior, meetings have been held to provide support and advice to the affected workers of the company providing the service.” He also explains that the management “brought the facts to the attention of the prosecutor’s office,” which reported a few months later that the case had been closed.
The letter also details that “prior to the previously mentioned actions, the company providing the service opened the corresponding information files, which concluded that the reported facts could not be proven.”
“At the request of the CAT112 Management, the company reviewed and improved the measures to strengthen the prevention of harassment situations through training its staff in equality plans, as well as strengthening and reviewing its internal protocols and the establishment of precautionary measures. “, he concludes about the first case, remembering that “it is judicialized.”
Regarding the other two episodes, “they would have occurred more recently.” “As in the first case,” he points out, “once the management of CAT112 was aware, it was immediately transferred to the company to clarify the facts and so that the pertinent corrective measures could be taken.” “The company providing the service reported in CAT112 that they had activated their internal procedures and opened the corresponding information files,” he says. CAT112’s statement ends by showing its rejection and condemnation of “any situation of workplace or sexual harassment that may occur in any area.”
Source: www.lavanguardia.com
