The recently created employers’ association that brings together the large fashion companies with a presence in Spain –Inditex (Zara, Massimo Dutti…), Mango, H
The situation is behind some of the conflicts experienced in the sector in recent months and has led to the blocking of a large number of provincial agreements due to the difficulty in negotiating between the parties – the one in Seville, for example, is cancelled. The result: a sales clerk (the majority are women) who works in a store in Madrid earns a base salary of 1,051.45 euros per month, 6% less than a clerk in Ávila (1,119.70 euros per month) and 21 % less than in Barcelona (1,334.28 euros).
“This agreement aims to establish a stable and homogeneous common framework of working conditions at the national level for large groups or commercial chains in the textile sector,” they explain from ARTE. The employers set some requirements both to be part of the association and to be represented in the negotiation and apply the future agreement: companies must have a total physical sales area of ??more than 3,500 square meters nationwide, physical stores in, at least, three autonomous communities or more than 400 employees.
For ARTE, the fragmentation of the sector in labor matters made clear “the need for the sector to promote a unified labor framework based on equal opportunities, which avoids significant differences in working conditions depending on the territory” and which serves as a basis , apart from the company agreements that can be signed.
“It will be a complex negotiation because some companies have their own agreement and others are covered by the provincial ones. It is not impossible, but it will not be a typical negotiation”, considers Ángeles Rodríguez, head of CCOO Services. The union is also committed to a regulation at the state level with the same conditions. “Dialogue in some provinces is complex because business representation is not clearly organized or identified,” she adds. This, among other issues, has delayed updating labor conditions at a time of high inflation.
The activation of this negotiation between ARTE and the unions has alerted some groups of small and medium-sized companies that, in principle, do not meet the characteristics to be part of the new employers’ association. It could be the case, indicates Ángeles Rodríguez, that the large textile chains apply the future state agreement and the small and medium-sized ones continue with the provincial one.
That is why groups such as Modacc in Catalonia or Acotex in Madrid advocate getting involved in this upcoming negotiation. “We want to be part of this journey, to be in the negotiation to create a stable environment for workers,” says David García, executive director of Modacc. Otherwise, the SMEs indicate, a drag effect could be produced in the sector and they would have to end up applying some rules of the game in which they have not had a say.
