26-6-2023 (MADRID) Spanish retail workers went on strike on Monday, with hundreds of employees walking off the job across Spain in a new round of strikes against the fashion giant H&M Group. More than 4,000 Spanish employees at the Swedish multinational’s brands, including H&M, Other Stories and Cos, are seeking pay rises in line with the higher cost of living and protesting increased workloads linked to layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is the third round of strikes by H&M Group employees this month, with flagship stores in Madrid closed and hundreds of workers gathering in front of the city’s largest H&M location to demand better working conditions as online sales increasingly fracture the retail industry.
Union leader Ángeles Rodríguez Bonillo told The Associated Press that workers had lived with “salaries that have been frozen for many, many years” but now find their situation untenable “with the economic situation and the high cost of living.”
Inflation is high in Europe and around the world following the global economy’s rebound from the pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine, forcing people to spend more on food, utility bills, and other purchases. Consumer prices rose 7.1% in the European Union in May from a year earlier, though Spain’s inflation rate is one of the lowest in the 27-nation bloc, at 2.9%.
The price pinch has led to months of disruptive strikes and protests by workers across Europe, who are pressing for wages that keep pace with inflation. In Spain, monthslong negotiations between the main UGT and CCOO unions and H&M Group broke down on Jun 19, leading to a series of strikes that began on June 20 and have now been extended into the first two Saturdays of July. Mediation efforts would begin this week, Rodríguez Bonillo said.
A 24-hour strike on Thursday was observed by 80% of H&M Group’s workforce in Spain, leading to the closure of 100 stores, according to statements from the unions.
European service workers union UNI Europa said the strikes reflected a “problematic change of attitude at H&M” towards more precarious, part-time contracts in larger stores that also receive online orders.
H&M Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
