Until June 2020, 70-year-old Jorge Pérez Ortega (aka Jorgito) earned the equivalent of just over $5USD a day while working as a cleaner during the COVID-19 pandemic in the facilities of the “20 November” public hospital in Mexico City. The hospital houses hundreds of COVID-19 patients.

According to Jorgito, his employer, a private company hired by the State to carry out cleaning services in the hospital, did not supply him nor his colleagues with adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Jorgito shared this situation on a local TV channel reporting outside the hospital on 16 June 2020 during his lunch break.

Six days later, on 22 June, his employer fired him without written justification nor compensation, arguing that he should not have given the interview.

Jorgito was fired for speaking up for his rights and other cleaning staff. It is unacceptable that cleaners at Covid-19 hospitals, like Jorgito, face retaliations for speaking out about their working conditions.

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This post was originally published on Radio Free.