A central Madrid H&M store had to close for a few hours after dozens of its employees staged a protest outside, calling for better compensation and reduced workloads. The two major Spanish trade unions, CCOO and UGT, have also called for over 4,000 shop assistants to strike on 22nd and 26th June, just as the summer sale season is set to begin.
After months of negotiations—the most recent meeting, which lasted 12 hours on Monday—the employees claimed they chose to go on strike after failing to come to a salary agreement with management. They asserted that H&M paid less than its principal rivals, including Inditex-controlled Zara, wholly owned by H&M.
The shop workers in Madrid also complained about long work hours, claiming that they were required to cover for coworkers who were ill without any further assistance.
Although H&M declined to comment on the requests of the workers, it did state that it “respects the rights of employees to express themselves freely.”
In response to workers’ requests for better compensation to counteract rising consumer prices, Inditex agreed to a 20 per cent increase in the average wage for shop employees in its home market of Spain earlier this year.
According to H&M’s annual report for 2022, 3.7 per cent of its 106,000 shops worldwide — 75 per cent of which are staffed by women — are located in Spain. The fashion company employs more than 10,000 people in its stores throughout its two main markets, the United States and Sweden, respectively.
