And after 16 days and 15 nights, the fight between Marilu Santana and his 15 colleagues paid off. Yesterday afternoon, an agreement was finally signed between the administrator of Clube Praia da Rocha and the workers, for the payment of arrears.
According to signed document, the original of which was deposited in the hands of Isilda Gomes, president of the Portimã Chambero, which mediated the negotiations, until the 15th of April, one month of the salary in arrears will be paid, while “the remaining amounts in arrears” will be paid by the first half of June.
Marilu Santana, who, since the 20th of March and for two weeks, she remained chained to some interior stairs of the tourist complex, demanding payment of two and a half months of wage arrears, to her and 15 of her colleagues, this morning was a happy and emotional woman.
Dressed to the nines and wearing ankle boots and high heels, she distributed hugs and thanks. "Thank you for your support, thank you for your food, I felt like home," she said to a colleague, one of the many people who, over the 16 days and 15 nights, brought her help and solidarity, while Marilu remained in chains, in her protest.
After yesterday afternoon the agreement was reached, it was already around 23 pm when the worker finally freed herself from the chains that, for two weeks, kept her linked to the fight for her rights. But still, Marilu didn't go home to sleep on her first night of freedom. "I made a point of sleeping here, with my colleagues," he told the Sul Informação. "They were here in the open, in the cold, all these nights, so I wouldn't be alone on the other side of the glass, that's why I wanted to spend this last night with them."
"In the 16st century, I continue to believe in love and a cabin, because I was in a cabin, but the love of my colleagues and all the people who showed solidarity with me, nourished me during these XNUMX days", he said.
At the press conference, given this morning together by Marilu Santana, Tiago Jacinto, coordinator of the Union of Workers in the Algarve Hotel, Tourism, Restaurant and Similar Industry, and António Goulart, coordinator of the Union of Union of Algarve, the worker insisted on affirming her availability to be the “spokesperson” for those who felt wronged. «From the doctor to the street sweeper, I want to give my body and my face to face any fight and any boss».
It's just that, he underlined, “whoever thinks it's not worth fighting, that nothing is won, is wrong! I gained more facing this fight than I lost. My son is already working, even given his face for this fight. And we got this deal. What is needed is not to give up».
"I am now a much richer woman, not because of the money the boss is going to pay me, but in feelings and values, in solidarity that I saw here in this courtyard every day."
Tiago Jacinto: in the Algarve, the debt to hotel workers amounts to «more than one million euros»
Tiago Jacinto, from the Hotel Workers Union, who accompanied the entire protest and participated in the negotiations, highlighted the "courageous and determined struggle of the former workers of Clube Praia da Rocha", adding that it was not "the isolated struggle" of a person, but of a “collective struggle”.
The union leader added that "what goes on here at Clube Praia da Rocha is an example of the serious problem that is increasingly affecting workers in the sector", criticizing that, while the tourism industry records successive records, "reality for those who work, be very different».
Tiago Jacinto also revealed that the debt to hotel workers amounts to "more than one million euros", estimating the union that the "problem is much more serious", since such amounts correspond only to processes directly monitored by the union structure.
For his part, António Goulart, coordinator of the Union of Union of Unions of the Algarve, said, at the press conference, that we are living in times when «you want to make a trivial act for workers to be in arrears» and that, he argued, «cannot to be!"
Goulart criticized the "feeling of impunity in relation to non-compliance with workers" that, in his opinion, the Government transmits to businessmen, as well as the fact that "part of the employers believes that they have no social responsibilities and that workers' rights are something of fantasy".
The union leader considered that the agreement reached "is the victory of the denunciation of arrears, but also of solidarity." And he warned: "if the agreement is not fulfilled, we will be here again for the fight", a statement that drew loud applause from the audience.
And now, what will Marilu do? «I have already received several job offers, but I have to think and ponder. What I know I'm going to do is write a book about all this, to serve as an example to other people who have suffered, like me and my colleagues, the injustice of wage arrears," he said, speaking to Sul Informação.
But for now, because it's the festive season, Marilu goes home: «I've already promised my family
I'm still going to make some Easter talks,” he concluded, with tears in his eyes and a wide smile.
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