Oswaldo Martín, 75 years old, born in Argentina and resident in Spain for 22 years, embodies the reality of many foreign workers who retire after careers built entirely in this country. After two decades working as a baker in our country, he receives a pension of about 900 euros per month, calculated based on the years of contributions. “They made me retire according to what was provided (22 years old). It’s not logical, but you couldn’t ask for more,” he explains in an interview with NewsWork.
Throughout the conversation, Oswaldo draws a critical portrait of the system, especially the situation of self-employed workers. “The self-employed are worse off. They have 30 or 40 years of contributions and retire with 700 euros. I know many people like that,” he says. He considers that labor disorder and large salary differences make it difficult to access decent pensions.
The retiree also compares purchasing power between European countries. His daughter lives in France “and earns much more,” he explains, although he emphasizes that there “everything is worth more.” In his opinion, salaries in Almería, where he currently lives, “are medium-low”, but daily life is “cheaper” than in other places.
Sacrifice, long hours and unpaid overtime
During his work period, Oswaldo observes that the situation of young people depends largely on the sector in which they work. “He who has a good job doesn’t let go,” he says. In hospitality and commerce, however, he denounces that “sometimes they don’t pay you for eight hours” and that salaries are strictly adjusted to the minimum.
He acknowledges that he was lucky and “thank God, with the undertaking I gave I was saved.” But he points out that many colleagues do not suffer the same fortune. However, the profession of baker was, for him, hard work from the beginning. “When you do it when you are young you put up with it, but when you are new, if you don’t have another option, you have to put up with it,” he explains. The day was long and nocturnal, “I would go at 12:30 or 1 at night and return at around 12 noon.”
In those years he earned “a thousand or so euros, 1,500,” although he regrets that the real salary, taking into account unpaid overtime, “should have been 2,000 or 2,500 euros. But, who pays you 2,500? Nowhere,” he summarizes.