“The locker rooms and toilets are always full of shit, in disgusting conditions. They fill up with water and sand and, instead of hiring a crew, they have us do the cleaning within the company. planning”. This is how an actor from Puy du Fou (who prefers to remain anonymous) describes to elDiario.es the state of the rooms where they change, shower and leave their belongings every day. This is why the Comisiones Obreras union reported to the Labor Inspectorate the theme park located in Toledo, dedicated to the history of Spain.
As the union explains in a press release, the company “has not resolved” this work problem which affects “around 600 people”, because it considers it “more than obvious” that its “responsibilities do not include cleaning of common areas. The organization specifies that this is a situation that has been brought to the attention of the company and that, having not provided a solution, the Federation of Citizen Services (FSC) of CCOO Toledo has decided to report it.
This newspaper contacted several of the star artists of the shows that make up the Puy du Fou calendar, and they confirm that, even if “there is a cleaning of what is visited and what is visible to the public”, “no one » is responsible for the facilities they use. elDiario.es also contacted the park, from which it has not yet received a response.
“One of the boys’ urinal doors had been broken for two years,” admits another interpreter, who also prefers not to reveal his identity, “there are cobwebs in the corners, which are getting bigger and bigger. “.
The “talents”, as they admit to being called by the park management, criticize the fact that this cleaning is a “job” that they “discover” once they have already started working in the park. “Suddenly, they tell you that this change is added to you,” explains another actor to this newspaper. For example, for those who play the different characters of The dream of Toledothe star show, which takes place in the evening (at 10 p.m. or 10:30 p.m., depending on the time of the season) before the park closes, beyond the costume change, its days are extended by an additional 45 minutes.
“Ultimately, with a mop, you just move the mud. Lack of disinfection. We move shit, but we don’t really clean it up,” said one actor to show Nocturne – who also prefers not to make his name public – which indicates that “the worst thing” that was found was “vomiting in the stands”. Regarding his personal hygiene, he reveals that he prefers to wait until he is home to shower, although he states that there are colleagues, “brave” as he describes them, who do it there.
“I have always refused because I am not up to it. We have to clean once a week. That is, you finish your pass, you collect all your things and you have to start cleaning the bathrooms, the hallways, putting away the clothes, doing the dishes. I had a hard time saying no,” another artist and acrobat criticizes this newspaper. “Why do they make me clean up ordinary crap? Why wouldn’t you want to hire someone to do it? It’s not paid. “You go through three towns,” he insists.
More work in the quadrants
Cleaning is planned in daily notebooks in which the hours of each “espuyfolai” are specified, which is how the company calls the Puy du Fou workers. In one of these documents (dated October 31), corresponding to the team of The dream of Toledo, You see the part of the staff who will have to be in charge of this function once the performance is over. And, in the caption, how this color is used to notify it.
In addition to the planning sheets, actors and dancers must complete a template in which they must record the tasks they performed during the cleaning shift and the materials they have available for them.
Duties include “sweeping locker rooms and hallways,” “cleaning bathroom and urinals”, “clean sinks and mirrors”, “rinse mops and throw away water”. In addition to “trash”. “The waste is thrown into the bins which are distributed throughout the park and the people responsible for cleaning empty it into compactors, also located inside the enclosure, and which are the same as those used by the catering industry” , details another of the actors.
Le Puy du Fou opens its doors at 11 a.m. and the shows start between 30 and 45 minutes later. In total, eleven are represented throughout the day (including passages and those that incorporate lunch or dinner in their restaurants), and they range from The last songwhich tells the legend of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, the Cid Campeador; has With pen and swordwhich travels to the Spanish Golden Age, with particular attention to Lope de Vega. Most of them are carried out outdoors – whatever the weather – on land including water and land, with the presence of animals such as horses and birds.
From CCOO, they specify that since these are tasks that are not carried out by “the permanent staff of the structure (maintenance, administrative, commercial, technicians…) these areas, after so long without proper cleaning by qualified cleaning staff, lack health and. they are in a sad state. “It is clear that among the responsibilities of actors, actresses, dancers and other park staff, do not include the duties of cleaning toilets or washing changing room floors, their risk assessment therefore does not consider these types of jobs “, concludes the union statement. The company’s proposal, as they share, is “that once a month an external company carries out a deep cleaning, but that the rest of the days it continues to be done by. the animation team.
The complications of rain
Depending on the weather conditions, this is one of the handicaps of Puy du Fou. In late 2023, OCU called for an investigation into the park for not canceling the show Toledo’s dream despite the heavy rains. “There was a river of water and mud”, these are some of the complaints made and then collected by this newspaper.
“We were waiting for it to be canceled because it was not normal to act like this or to see things like this as a public,” lamented a member of the artistic team, as affected by the storm as the public. The rains have persisted since this performance and, as several actors revealed to this media, on October 12, when the rains forced the cancellation of the to show night, Toledo’s dreamthis did not translate into a day off for the interpreters.
“We had to be ready in case it was necessary to help organize work normally the next day,” provided the weather improved. In fact, as they commented on elDiario.es, the actors – and the ushers – ended up being divided into groups to clean the room, and even “clean and isolate the technical panels”. Something that: “We’re obviously not qualified for.” »
One of the park ushers, who testified anonymously, explained that her colleagues do not have to clean the changing rooms and toilets as part of their duties, but that they must clean the stands of the shows assigned to them. “You have to go through them for about fifteen minutes, removing all the crap they put in them. Tissues, diapers, poop, underwear, condoms and even a syringe. And without gloves or anything, we put it on our arm, close to our body, and throw it into the trash cans in the park itself.
