Zubieta incinerator workers demand health guarantees after poisoning nine workers

A group of workers from the Zubieta incinerator (Gipuzkoa) concentrated on Monday to demand occupational health guarantees and a collective labour agreement adapted to the activity of workers.

Last Wednesday,nine workers involved in the fire extinguishment at the facility  were taken to hospital as a precaution, as reported by the Gipuzkoa Waste Management Consortium (GHK). However, the works council of the company Ekobal, which manages the facility, has reported that those affected suffered "severe poisoning"by having to extinguish the flames without adequate protective material and means.

Gotzon Intxaurrandieta, a representative of the LAB trade union, said that themobilisation, which took place this afternoon, was aimed at denouncing these events because "there were no necessary measures".

Over the past year, incinerator workers have made stops and protests in order to reach an agreementof their own, which currently applies to them in the sweeper sector. Workers demand a regulatory agreement that takes into account the specific nature of their job and the risks involved, the union said.

"The plant is highly toxic and therefore we have already filed four complaints with the Labour Inspectorate. They keep the doors closed and the smoke generated inside them is toxic, "Intxaurrandieta said.

The workers have also made public their economic demands, to which the management has responded by saying that "there is no money." "Although Ekobal claims that there is no fund, the reality is that the parent company is keeping all the money," the LAB representative has criticized, who has advanced that further mobilizations will take place in September.