ARC suffered a heart attack, but he carried on working for the AGER. He suffered a second 20th heart attack in 1988 and has recently celebrated his anniversary. ARC stepped down from being Director four years ago. When he became director there were 1,500 members; when he left there were 12,000 and today there are 16,000. It’s the strongest AER in Spain. Receives support from the Caja de Ahorro de Granada (Savings Bank of Granada). AGER sees around 150 people per day, 38,000 people every year. [60:00 – 70:00] Law and return migrants ARC’s brother is a lawyer and an expert on laws relating to workers’ rights and return migrants in particular. He planned to denounce Spain because it was the only country in the EU that did not pay contributions to the pensions of those doing military service. Talks about various sentencias comunitarias that took place with return migrants claiming pensions from the destination countries they worked in as well as Spain. Includes his own story of claiming retrospective payment from the French government (for conyuge cargo). [70:00 – 80:00] Impressions of France Interviewer asks ARC if he had any impressions of France before going. His father had been a refugee in France. He came back in 1948 after spending the war there. He was part of a colectivo (union?) which was awarded the Legion d’Honneur by de Gaulle for its participation in the resistance. His father gave him ideas about the differences between France and Spain, beginning with the working week: 48 hours in Spain, 40 in France. Eventually Spain reduced working week to 44 hours. ARC was involved in negotiations and went to Madrid three times. These days, ARC wonders where the unions are, why aren’t they protesting about the kind of issues he’s reading about in the press. ARC had to make an effort to learn French. When he was at school, they didn’t study it, it was only Latin in those days. He played for a football team in the village he lived in. The boss at work was also the president of the football club. ARC’s brother was also working illegally there in France, working on a three month tourist visa. ARC regularised his papers to become legal. He used to be taken from Montauban by a delegado de trabajo to help a Spaniard living in a nearby village who wasn’t earning enough to pay his way. The Spaniard didn’t speak good French. ARC helped him resolve his situation. [80:00 – 90:00] Migration to France He remembers one time he went to Irún to pasar reconocimiento (pass a medical exam?). There was also a group from Madrid who were made to strip for medical examinations. There was a young man with a large mole, and the border doctor believed it might be cancerous and he so was not allowed to enter France. The young man came so full of hope and cried when he was put back on the train to Madrid. ARC had had a hernia operation at a military hospital in Spain, and the doctor noticed the operation scar. However, he was allowed to pass as he was going to a job as an official. Interviewer asks ARC about the belongings he took from Spain to France.He had won the lottery – 60,000 pesetas – with which he could have bought a house. He spent it badly, lending money to friends. When he was down to 12,000 pesetas left, he went to France.

Created by: Darren Paffey for the JISC OpenLIVES Project 2012.