SAMARCO: BULGARIAN OPERATORS IN SPANISH PROJECTS

Do you need skilled workers and specialists for your construction sites?

The company business is to create work teams and to incorporate them in the personnel of big companies in the field of industrial erections and civil engineering.

Todor I. Blajev, engineer, and his son founded together in Spain the company SAMARCO. Their goal is to bring to Spain teams of highly skilled workers and to incorporate them in infrastructure projects of companies such as Dragados, ACS, Asfaltos naturales de Campezo and Grupo Ureche.

Although SMARCO has begun its operations in 2000, the experience of Todor I. Blajev on various markets is going much further back in the years. He has started his experience in Bulgaria, as deputy chairman of various companies in the field of electricity and mechanical engineering. Then he has served as engineer-consultant in Morocco and Cuba and since 1990 is living in Spain. In our country he has worked for various companies until 1996, when he founded the company T&T Project. “We are talking about a Bulgarian company helping Spanish businesses – civil-engineering and engineering-consultancy, involved in projects in East European countries”, he explains eagerly. During the years his company has provided engineering assistance and services to large Spanish and European companies in the field of industry and civil engineering, willing to be present in the developing markets in Eastern Europe. The main asset of the company is the experience applied in the formation of European teams for work in projects, financed by the European Union and the ability to join multi-national and cross-industry teams.

Professionalism

“It all began when companies like Semi, included in ACS, and Asfaltos naturales de Campezo won public procurement orders for European sites in Sofia and they have acquired confidence in the way of making business of the Bulgarian operators”, narrates Todor Blajev, the president of SMARCO. “These companies turned to the Bulgarian embassy in Spain in order to search the possibility to hire qualified personnel in their sites in Spain. The companies needed specialists in contact networks, personnel for the traction and transformer substations, erectors of big lines … From the embassy informed that the selection of personnel services have to be completed by private company. Our company fitted the profile as civil engineering and Construction Company aware of the requirements in the sector in Spain.”

The formation of the first teams was very difficult because the Spanish legislation was hindering much the selection. However, the Royal Decree № 864/July 2001 changed the situation and since then the country issues a permit type “А”, in order to allow foreigners to work in big infrastructural projects of companies as AVE or Metrosur, for a period of one year. The new legal situation has given us impetus to found SAMARCO. “Bulgarians are very tidy persons, when we are talking for job, they are very disciplined, they are rather modest ... and most of all – have big sense of responsibility in work.”

More than one hundred Bulgarians have been engaged in the fourteen sites scattered all over Spain. “The personnel working in Bulgaria on erection sites is very skilled and we are always taking to Spain people who are active, but still dream about professional growth.”

The most demanded specialists are in the fields of contact networks, erectors of big lines and traction substations, casing and shuttering workers, workers with marble and steel erectors, although latest trends indicate that companies are looking for specialists in the field of power stations and shipbuilding.

Test

The selection process of candidates before leaving for Spain is not easy to complete. The teams are usually formed of five to thirty-five persons with one or more leaders to guide them during the stay in Spain. The personnel selection process is the task of T&T Project, holder of license from the Labor Ministry of Bulgaria. “All candidates pass through five tests selection process: professional, medical, legal, technical and linguistic”, explains Todor Blajev. “We study their professional development and check their certificates and professional documents; we make them full medical and psychological examination; we ask them for full legal documentation issued by the authorities of both countries; we conduct rear job situation tests on industrial sites created for the purpose and we teach the candidates basic Spanish language with at least 1000 words, one third of which is engineering terminology.”

Of course the last word is always to our client in Spain, with whom we always discuss details concerning the engineering leaders and the personnel. We always have a reserve team to offer, but clients usually chose the first one, selected by us.”

Other services

SAMARCO provides to the Bulgarian personnel a set of social and professional services. It helps them to integrate into the Spanish labor and social life, which is much easier thanks to the courses in basic Spanish language, includes them in the courses for labor safety, where participate translators; helps them with accommodation problems, banking accounts and services in Spain; assts them in preparation of all documents demanded by the Spanish authorities and prevents them from cases of misunderstanding and labor conflicts. “We make our best that the workers feel good and try to solve in the best possible way their integration in Spanish society and the company culture in the country”, explains Todor Blajev.

The Spanish company-employer is liable by contract to pay one of the travels from Bulgaria to Spain, “although it usually covers both trips and there is one company that paid the trip by plane.”

As far as the accommodation is concerned, half price is paid by the hiring company and the remaining part - by the worker himself. “Presently we have a team working for Metrosur and living in a villa in section 3 of Getafe. In addition we have an apartment of 200 m2 in Castellana and two apartments in the quarter Musas in Madrid.”

The Bulgarian workers have the same rights as their Spanish counterparts, both in social security and personal security.

The high level of Spanish standard of life, being higher than 17 times than the Bulgarian, as well as the economic differences pushes Bulgarian workers to move to Spain. For example in Bulgaria the national Railway company pays between 100 and 200 EUR/month, and always with four or five months delay, while in Spain the salaries easily reach 2000 EUR/month, „because they work for big companies, where it is easy to double or triple their salaries by contract”, concludes Mr. Blajev.

SAMARCO focuses on skilled personnel in the field of erection, construction works, contact networks and roads, teams working with metal and connections for substations, high voltage lines, asphalting and civil engineering. „We are working on signing a contract for forty persons in Ceuta. This shall allow us to expand our activity outside the peninsula”, points out Mr. Blajev.

All contracts that SMARCO sign with companies on the Spanish labor market and with its own workers are based on three bilateral agreements signed by the two countries. The first agreement is for the avoidance of double taxation; the second is the agreement for recognition of driving licenses and the third is an agreement for social security provision, signed not long ago.

„Our company purpose is to see come through an old dream of many Bulgarians – to be part of an Europe, where we can all cooperate with each other with the same stamina as we do it on national territories. Bulgaria is to become a full member of the European Union and we believe that our business is acting in the right direction to follow.”