Under Pressure at the Airport: What the Complaints Against Construction Workers Really Reveal

Under Pressure at the Airport: What the Complaints Against Construction Workers Really Reveal

How could it come this far — and who pays the price?

At the construction fence of Son Sant Joan becomes a major construction site: How Palma is organising the winter at the airport there's a fresh breeze; the smell of diesel mixes with the scent of breakfast wrapped in aluminum foil. A few days ago the CCOO union filed a complaint with the labor authority in Palma: employees of a subcontractor are alleged to have been systematically forced to work long shifts during the renovation works at the airport, without their actual hours being correctly recorded. The complaint concerns a subcontractor acting on behalf of Acciona: Zaragoza 2012 Grupo Constructor S.L.U., according to the filing.

Key question: Who bears responsibility when timesheets are manipulated on a large construction site, wages are partly paid in cash and social contributions are avoided — the small subcontractor, the general contractor or the public oversight bodies?

The allegations, as CCOO sets them out, are clear: employees are said to have regularly worked ten-hour shifts but been forced to sign work certificates for eight hours. Overtime, night and Saturday work allegedly went unpaid; vacations were not taken. Partial payments in envelopes, without social security contributions, and the 'hiding' of per diems as advances to be settled later paint, for the union, a picture of labor and tax fraud. Those affected also submitted original documents showing the hours actually worked, which differ from the lists kept by the company.

Such accusations are not new — but the construction site is prominent: an airport around which thousands of travelers, employees and suppliers move. That similar practices reportedly occurred during works at the Manacor regional hospital sheds light on a possible systemic problem in subcontracting and oversight and coincide with safety concerns reported in incidents such as Wall Collapse at Palma Airport: More Than an Accident — How Safe Are the Major Works Really?.

Critical analysis: the complaint reveals several weaknesses at once. First: the cascade of responsibility. Subcontractors are often under pressure to meet costs and schedules; liability and control structures become complex. Second: on-site controls. Genuine working time management requires binding, tamper-proof time records and regular plausibility checks by the contracting party or independent auditors, as highlighted after Another accident at Palma Airport: Worker falls on construction site — who protects the employees?. Third: sanctions. If irregularities are only discovered months later, evidence becomes blurred, employees feel insecure and enforcing claims is made more difficult.

What is missing so far in public debate: a clear discussion on contract design for large construction projects in Mallorca. It's not just about individual cases — but about procurement criteria, control mechanisms and whether main contractors like Acciona should be held more accountable for what actually happens on their sites. Also rarely discussed is the everyday reality of the workers: how accessible are unions on site? Are there safe reporting channels without reprisals?

A typical scene that makes the problem tangible: in the morning at the access road to the terminal construction site, men in red safety helmets stand with thermos flasks. Some leaf through the slip they received back as their 'work record', others watch quietly toward the runway where an Airbus taxis in the background. Their voices are low; they don't like to give names — fear of the next contract hangs in the air, a tension reinforced by reports such as Arrests at Palma Airport: Two employees detained after alleged thefts.

Concrete solutions that could be implemented immediately: mandatory electronic time tracking at all major sites with direct reporting to the labor authority; random audits of payrolls by independent inspectors; clear liability clauses in contracts that hold main contractors liable for violations by subcontractors; protection and anonymous reporting channels for employees; and tying payments from public clients to positive compliance evidence.

At the local level, the island administration should also examine whether procurement criteria can be more strongly oriented toward fair working conditions — not only price and deadlines. Whoever builds at Son Sant Joan does so within sight of the city; in Palma such decisions are felt in daily work life as far as the neighborhoods around Passeig Mallorca.

Conclusion: CCOO's report is a wake-up call. If parts of the construction industry operate with cash wages, forged timesheets and unpaid social contributions, the ultimate victims are the social foundation: the people who live and work on the island. It is not enough to merely collect accusations. What is needed are binding controls, transparent contract rules and practical support for employees who have the courage to report abuses. Son Sant Joan is not an isolated place — and the answer must start locally.