Various offices of the Institute of the National Housing Fund for Workers (Infonavit) are on the verge of collapse due to a lack of cleaning staff. Unsanitary conditions have made it impossible for administrative workers to perform their duties correctly. The staff reduction began on March 16th, when a multi-year contract was unclearly awarded to the company PROAM Administración S. de R.L. de C.V., owned by Guillermo Solís. The company is being investigated for malpractices. “When the company changed, many people left; they told us they had worked with them before and that they didn't pay on time or in full, nor did they provide social benefits, so they preferred to look for other jobs. The current staff is insufficient for everything to be clean,” assured Mario, who works as an administrator in the Institute's central offices. Despite the complaints against PROAM, which are before the Secretariat of Anti-Corruption and Good Government, the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) and the Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare (STyPS), by order of Iyadalid Martínez Domínguez, Subdirector of Administration and Services Procurement of Infonavit, decided to grant the contract. Something smells fishy at Infonavit. Workers have already begun to express their dissatisfaction due to the lack of cleaning staff; garbage has started to accumulate in some areas, bathrooms are not cleaned daily, causing bad odors, and the offices are not being adequately cleaned. Cleaners report that they are also not being given the necessary supplies. “We do our best, but where there used to be 3 or 4 people, now there is only one; we also have to clean more areas and we are not given the materials we need, we have to share brooms, rags, and in some cases we have even had to mop with just water,” revealed Antonia, who works as a cleaner. The administrative workers of Infonavit have begun to organize to see the possibility of stopping work or working in shifts until the sanitation of the facilities is guaranteed.
