The summer sales, this year, also come with a strike by shop assistants. After the winter ones were marked by the protests of the Inditex store workers, those of H&M have followed their example and have taken over with the aim of get them also improvements in their working conditions.
First it was a day of partial strikes that closed most of the stores of the Swedish chain in Spain on Tuesday. However, the big day was Thursday, when the 4,000 H&M employees in our country were called for a 24-hour strike. According to union data, the follow-up has been more than 80%.
This situation caused a large part of the 125 establishments that H&M has distributed throughout Spain they had to close. CCOO has communicated that the stores closed in Fuerteventura, Alicante, Málaga, Asturias, Jaén, Murcia, Granada, while in Vizcaya two closed in the morning and three in the afternoon. In Madrid and Barcelona, on the other hand, there was only one open. The strike day was also accompanied by rallies in the morning and afternoon.
What the workers ask for
The company, as it has declared through a statement, has been in dialogue and negotiating with the workers since January at a table with representatives to try to reach an agreement. The demands of the employees revolve around two main points:
The first is the reinforcement of the insoles. Since, in 2021, H&M dismissed 400 workers through an ERE, the dependents accuse the textile giant of not covering the casualties or leave of absence. This results in a greater workload and stressful situations which, in turn, lead to more sick leave.
The second point to negotiate is the extension of hours to contracts. Most of the workers in H&M stores have part-time contracts and wages that depend on provincial agreements. This causes that it only gives for the minimum interprofessional salary in some cases.
The company has explained that it responded with a proposal to “increase resources in the stores through definitive extensions of hours in the contracts”, in addition to more hires. He also pledged to improve compensation through a goal-based system.
However, CCOO and UGT describe these proposals as “too abstract” and they ask to hire more staff to cover casualties, to extend part-time contracts to more hours or full-time, in addition to proposing a system of sales incentives and claiming responsibility bonuses.
The closures and protests, which include the rest of the stores of the Swedish group (Cos, Other Stories and Weekday), it will continue next Monday if the negotiations do not advance.
Cover photo | Kishor
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