Barcelona rescue shelter 'not suitable for workers or animals'

Staff at Barcelona's public animal shelter – the Center d'Acollida d'Animals de Companyia de Barcelona (CAACB) – gathered outside Barcelona City Hall on Wednesday to demand better working conditions. 

An external company, CMS, employs around ten animal care workers and veterinary technical assistants at the shelter. This group began an indefinite strike at the end of November, asking for the same conditions as staff employed directly by the council. 

The shelter takes in an average of 2,500 animals a year, according to Barcelona City Council, but employees say it is "oversaturated" and warn of health and safety problems at work.  

"The conditions are not suitable for either the workers or the animals," say staff, who want to meet with local government officials to explain the "real situation" at the facility. 

Wednesday's protest in Plaça de Sant Jaume was organized with the support of the CGT trade union. 

Safety problems and stressed animals 

CAACB workers, who have been on strike for 48 days, warn that the volume of work is too high given the "insufficient" number of staff. 

Equipment at the facility is "totally obsolete," they say, causing "occupational safety problems" as well as stress for the animals. 

At the rally outside Barcelona City Council, Raúl Martín, a staff member and part of the strike committee, explained that there have been "several accidents," especially when having to clean cages with animals inside, as they can respond aggressively to hoses, for example. 

Martín wants the animals "not to be stressed, to be walked, and to be kept in dignified conditions." 

Of the shelter's twenty workers, around half work directly for the city council, with the other half subcontracted, according to the strike committee. 

The employees who work for CMS want the same salary and conditions as council workers who do the same job. 

They are also demanding improvements in workplace safety, organization and staffing levels, and point out that these problems have been dragging on for a long time, since before CMS won the latest tender and took over providing the service to the council. 

Staff explained that they have not accepted the proposal made by the company because "it had no guarantees," and they are asking to meet with Barcelona mayor, Jaume Collboni, or other council officials to find a solution. 

Finding fur-ever homes 

Catalan News visited Barcelona's public animal shelter in 2021, home to mainly cats and dogs who have been lost, abandoned, or given up by people who can no longer care for them.