Unions Ask Zara Inditex for a Nationwide Pay Hike

Unions Ask Zara Inditex for a Nationwide Pay Hike

News by Marge Serrano
Published: January 20, 2023

Fast fashion house Zara's owner Inditex may soon grant another income raise to all its workers based in Spain, as trade unions lobby for equality on the recently negotiated basic salary and benefits for Zara workers. 

As per Confederación Intersindical Galega (CIG), around 1,000 Zara and Inditex employees from A Coruna will soon enjoy a 25% boost in their salary. The pay raise preceded a Black Friday strike last Nov 24-25. The headquarters of Zara is located on the outskirts of A Coruna.  

Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT) and Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), two major unions in Spain, began another round of negotiations with Inditex so that the wage increase and benefits will cover all shop clerks working for any Inditex brand in Spain. UGT and CCOO are two powerful unions in Spain, representing over 50% of Zara's Spanish labor force. 

UGT leader Alvaro Cajigal shared, "we want the better benefits and wages that Inditex agreed with shop assistants (in A Coruna) to be received by workers in all shops in Spain." 

The current process of Inditex is that salary negotiations are done per province. This means that the terms for each area are currently different. 

CCOO Trade Unionist Lucia Trenor explained the rationale behind this latest request stating, "we want to go to a negotiation where there is no discrimination in the payment of workers because they are in one Spanish region or another, or because they work in a Zara shop instead of shops belonging to the group's other brands." 

CCOO and UGT aim for a 6% minimum increase, capped at 25% for 2023. The unions explained that this figure is decided by considering the rising inflation in Spain. 

When it comes to nationwide agreements, Inditex compromised with CCOO and UGT in November 2022 for a one-time payment of €1,000 in February for the entire full-time Inditex workers in Spain. Inditex also agreed to go through another negotiation for the extra benefits. 

Inditex employs a substantial total of 165,000 across 177 countries. Its annual report reveals that a third of its workforce hail from Spain, wherein 86% work onsite in the 6,477 shops, most of which are women.

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