100 euros for a Saturday on a Spanish construction site: the first day lies
An inexperienced labourer in Spain earns 100 euros for a Saturday's construction work and doesn't understand the complaints. Veterans reply with injuries and 1,300-euro monthly wages: the cost…
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
A day's pay on the building site: 100 euros and the bill nobody mentions
A warehouse worker with no previous experience spends a Saturday as a construction labourer: hauling cement bags, running the cement mixer, applying plaster and, at nine in the evening, collecting 100 euros in cash and two bottles of wine. His conclusion: "I don't understand all the complaining." Those who have spent years in the trade have a different list: chronic pain, hernias and a wage that, month after month, is anything but a luxury.
The 100 euros for the Saturday work out at 12.5 euros an hour if the shift was eight hours. But a labourer's real pay, according to those who spoke up, is around 1,300 euros a month, and some say there is no shortage of candidates willing to do it for 1,000. Downward pressure is the dead weight of a sector that doesn't value the craft.
The body, meanwhile, pays the price. Cement bags used to weigh 50 kilos; they were banned because they wrecked backs. Now they weigh 25, but the newcomer, eager to prove himself, carries two at a time. The veterans warn: fatigue builds up, sleep isn't enough and the injury eventually comes. A day on the site isn't paid for in money alone; it's paid for in health too.
Amid all the figures, one awkward question: why is there no feminine word for "bricklayer" in Spanish? Construction remains a male stronghold, and the language reflects it. The first day on the site is always free. After that, the body starts charging. How many Saturdays will it take for 100 euros to stop seeming like a good deal?
A warehouse worker with no previous experience spends a Saturday as a construction labourer: hauling cement bags, running the cement mixer, applying plaster and, at nine in the evening, collecting 100 euros in cash and two bottles of wine. His conclusion: "I don't understand all the complaining." Those who have spent years in the trade have a different list: chronic pain, hernias and a wage that, month after month, is anything but a luxury.
The 100 euros for the Saturday work out at 12.5 euros an hour if the shift was eight hours. But a labourer's real pay, according to those who spoke up, is around 1,300 euros a month, and some say there is no shortage of candidates willing to do it for 1,000. Downward pressure is the dead weight of a sector that doesn't value the craft.
The body, meanwhile, pays the price. Cement bags used to weigh 50 kilos; they were banned because they wrecked backs. Now they weigh 25, but the newcomer, eager to prove himself, carries two at a time. The veterans warn: fatigue builds up, sleep isn't enough and the injury eventually comes. A day on the site isn't paid for in money alone; it's paid for in health too.
Amid all the figures, one awkward question: why is there no feminine word for "bricklayer" in Spanish? Construction remains a male stronghold, and the language reflects it. The first day on the site is always free. After that, the body starts charging. How many Saturdays will it take for 100 euros to stop seeming like a good deal?
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (10 replies).
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