UNI Global Union and Inditex strengthen global agreement

 UNI Global Union and Inditex have renewed their global agreement, advancing the rights of more than 160,000 fashion and retail workers worldwide. Today’s signing comes 15 years after the Spanish retail giant and the service workers’ global union first reached an accord.

In addition to restating commitments on fundamental rights such as freedom of association and collective bargaining, the new agreement makes progress in the following areas:

• Fair digital transformation: As retailers introduce more digital tools to augment the shopping experience, the agreement has first-of-its-kind language on retail workers’ right to be consulted regarding Inditex’s use and implementation of these tools in accordance with national legislations and the tradition of social dialogue.
• Fighting gender-based violence: The agreement deepens joint work to combat sexual harassment and gender violence in the workplace.
• Workplace inclusion: Inditex and UNI are rolling out new measures focused on inclusion and retention of workers with functional diversity.
• Franchises: The company has committed to ensuring its franchised operations comply with and respect labour rights. Franchising is now a dedicated special topic during UNI and Inditex’s annual meetings to review the agreement’s implementation.

“Our agreement is a much-needed response to pressing issues facing retail workers today including a post-pandemic spike in third-party violence as well as the effects of digitalization. We also see many countries in Europe adopting Human Rights and Due Diligence legislation, to that end we are pleased Inditex exercises its responsibilities in this agreement and will now include franchised operations as a topic of discussion with UNI Global Union,” said Christy Hoffman, General Secretary of UNI Global Union.  

Inditex’s CEO Óscar García Maceiras said how “the commitment to the more than 160,000 people who populate our company and our efforts to have a positive impact on our communities are strategic priorities for Inditex,” going on to underline that, “constantly improving the opportunities to engage with the unions is key to continuing to make progress on the common goal of ensuring workers’ wellbeing.”

Since its inception in 2009, the UNI – Inditex global agreement has helped thousands of workers win pay increases, better working conditions and expand access to collective bargaining. For example, Stuart Appelbaum, President of the RWDSU in the United States and Global President of UNI’s Commerce sector said when the agreement turned ten:

“New York Zara workers saw the power of this global agreement first hand. They set a positive trend for workers in the industry across the United States – and they did so with a fair process that other companies should learn from and follow. The agreement has changed thousands of workers’ lives, improving their jobs, their wages, and their benefits, but it has also changed the retail industry.”

The event was also attended by representatives from the main Spanish unions, including the general secretary of Servicios Comisiones Obreras, José María Martínez, and the general vice-secretary of FeSMC-UGT, Pedro Aller, as well as members of the Inditex European Works Council.