There’s been fury in Spain over the tragic death of a street cleaner. It’s not hard to imagine something similar playing out in the UK
M
ontse Aguilar was only 51 when she died. She lived in the El Poble-sec area of Barcelona – it translates from Catalan as “the dry village” – where she cared for her 85-year-old mother and sang in a local choir. For three years, she had worked as a city street cleaner for an outsourcing company, wearing a lime-green uniform – made, her family later said, from “100% polyester … a material used to make coats”.
On 28 June, her shift in the city’s Gothic Quarter began at 2.30pm and ended seven hours later. The temperature that day had reached more than 35C, which left workers like her exposed: Spain has a clearer system of regulations covering heat and work than a lot of other countries, but it is still full of gaps.
That afternoon, Aguilar had sent a friend a WhatsApp message: “Sorry for not answering sooner, it’s just been a really bad afternoon. Not just because of the shit [ie the rubbish], but I thought I was going to die. I’m getting pains in my arms, chest and neck, cramps.” She also seems to have told one of her managers about how awful she was feeling. When she returned home, she collapsed and hit her head. Attempts by paramedics to revive her were unsuccessful.
