False self-employed among the guides of the Sagrada Familia

BarcelonaTaking advantage of the attention generated about the Sagrada Família due to the Pope's visit this week, it has come to light that, until a few months ago, 70 of the tourist guides who taught about the temple were false self-employed. Last December, Labor Inspection forced the two companies responsible for the service to regularize the situation of the professionals, according to a statement from the Col·lectiu Ronda issued this Monday.

However, 12 workers from one of these companies, Palacios y Museos (PyM), claim that, since then, they have suffered "strong pressure", which has forced "many" of the guides to leave and has resulted in the dismissal of this dozen people. Labor Inspection detected that PyM – one of the two companies in charge of the visits – had a fraudulent relationship with 40 self-employed individuals and proposed imposing a fine of one million euros. When consulted by ARA, the company declined to comment.

No assignments

The dismissals have been the end of a tug-of-war between the company and the false self-employed to apply the resolution of the Labor Inspectorate. The guides maintain that Palacios y Museos in February "refused to establish the negotiating framework" to set the working conditions under which they would hire them. In May they were registered "suddenly" and "with the demand to comply with impossible schedules and working days to assume". Faced with non-compliance, on June 3rd the company dismissed them.

According to the false self-employed, the new schedules set by the company in May were incompatible with the jobs they had taken to compensate for "the decrease, and in some periods the total absence", of assignments from PyM. "It was not about regularizing us, but about forcing our departure," lament the professionals in the statement from Col·lectiu Ronda.

"Dismantled" team

Tourist guides assure that "the historic guiding team – which for decades has presented the temple to visitors – has been practically dismantled". They claim "the social and cultural value" of their work, where "Catalan continues to be the central language".

The professionals in charge of publicizing the Sagrada Família maintain that Palacios y Museos "has lowered the economic conditions to the point of causing the resignation of the majority of professionals, and is replacing them with personnel without experience or official accreditation". The basilica received about 4.9 million visitors last year. The tours offered on its website start from 30 euros for individual visitors.

In the statement released by the Col·lectiu Ronda, the guides have expressed their "absolute disappointment" to the Foundation of the Constructing Board. They have requested the Patronage of the Sagrada Família, the Barcelona City Council, and the Generalitat to open a negotiation table, with the aim of preserving "the seniority and the necessary turnover to avoid the trivialization of the project".