Just before the holidays, the fashion groups H&M and Inditex announced that they would pay their employees in Spain and Portugal bonuses – 500 euros in the case of H&M to around 4,000 store employees: inside and 1,000 euros from Inditex to its store staff in Spain. However, due to growing pressure from unions and the threat of strikes, Inditex on Friday agreed to a 25 per cent (322 euro) wage increase for its workers in A Coruna, where the company has its headquarters.
The companies are reacting to the increasing pressure from employees and the largest Spanish unions UGT and CCOO, which are demanding higher wages in view of inflation-related rising consumer prices. In recent weeks, workers in several sectors, such as aviation and retail, have been on strike.
After around 1,000 workers at Zara stores and other Inditex brands went on strike during the busy Black Friday shopping week, further strikes were announced for December 23 and January 7 but were then called off.
Bonuses and salary increase starting next year
While next month H&M will pay out the full bonus to all employees in the Spanish stores who have been with the company since at least January 2022, those who have worked for at least six months will receive 250 euros.
Inditex was due to pay out its bonus in February, depending on the number of hours employees work in the stores, but has now agreed to raise wages from January 2023. Further increases of 20 euros in November 2023 and 40 euros in 2024 are planned.
While H&M announced layoffs, competitor Inditex was able to increase its sales first nine months of the year by 19 percent. This leaves Zara founder and Inditex co-founder Amancio Ortega the richest man in fashion and the third richest person in Europe.