After the fashion giant reported record earnings and increased shareholder rewards, workers at Inditex, the company that owns Zara, have planned protests in eight major Spanish cities on Friday to demand improved benefits, unions announced on Monday.
After Inditex announced last week that it will increase its dividend distribution by 28% and that it had positive early spring sales and a record annual profit, the company’s shares surged to all-time highs.
“We are happy with Inditex’s results, but having seen them, they can’t make excuses to the workers and need to discuss more benefits,” said Alvaro Cajigal, leader of the UGT union.
The two biggest unions in Spain, CCOO and UGT, have issued a summons to retail employees in Inditex’s home nation to congregate outside Zara and Bershka stores on Friday at noon in places including Madrid, Barcelona, and Seville.
Shops will operate as usual, according to CCOO union leader Lucia Trenor, who indicated that union representatives and employees will meet for an hour outside of their regular duties.
The unions demand that the firm that owns the Zara brand give part-time workers extra hours and that all employees get a certain amount of weekends off annually. In order to reach the majority of employees, UGT also wants seniority bonuses to begin after four years of service. This is because the firm is considering providing an experience-based perk.
