Inditex SA, owner of the Zara fashion chain, is scrambling to stop shop workers from striking in its hometown during Black Friday, one of the busiest days of the year for retailers.
(Bloomberg) — Inditex SA, owner of the Zara fashion chain, is scrambling to stop shop workers from striking in its hometown during Black Friday, one of the busiest days of the year for retailers.
Representatives from the company and three unions are set to meet Thursday morning after shop-workers in A Coruna, Spain, called a strike for Nov. 24 and 25, when Black Friday occurs, according to a statement from the Confederacion Intersindical Galega union, following a vote on Tuesday. Another union in the Basque region, called ELA, has also called a strike for Nov. 25.
CIG workers are demanding a pay increase of €440 ($459) per month, effective immediately, for staff earning €1,058 while the company is offering €182, staggering the increase over three years, according to a CIG spokesman. A key bone of contention is that shop staff want their salaries to be more aligned with those of the retailer’s better-paid logistics employees. The Basque union ELA are demanding pay be linked to inflation.
The protest highlights growing pressure from workers in Spain for salary increase to offset inflation at decades-high levels. But in spite of the cost-of-living crisis, Inditex, the world’s largest apparel firm, has posted record revenues this year, as it passes cost increases on to clients across the globe.
A press officer for Inditex declined to comment.
Spain is Inditex’s largest market by number of stores, but it’s also one of its main manufacturing centers. The country is also its core logistics center, as most of its products are distributed to some 7,000 stores globally from Spain.
Inditex’s revenues rely heavily on online sales and on a strategy of servicing e-commerce sales from its stores, rather than from dedicated warehouses.
(Updates with monthly salary in third paragraph.)
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