Zara workers are getting ready to protest outside stores in seven European countries on Black Friday. They want Inditex, the parent company, to bring back a profit-sharing plan that was dropped after the COVID-19 pandemic. The European Works Council for Inditex announced the protests on Friday.
Spain’s CCOO union is organizing the November 28 protests with unions in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and Portugal. The demonstrations are set to happen in front of Zara stores in major cities in these countries.
Rosa Galan, a CCOO representative at Inditex, told Reuters that the company used to have a profit-sharing program but ended it after the pandemic.
“We are once again asking that a company that has huge profits, profits that are the result of the work of its staff, distribute those profits fairly,” Galan said.
Inditex did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment. It is still unclear how many workers will take part.
The world’s largest publicly traded fast-fashion retailer has had strong sales growth since the pandemic. Its share price has doubled in the past three years.
Black Friday, the last Friday in November, is an important sales day for retailers worldwide. Retail workers often use this day to strike or protest about workplace issues. In 2022, workers in Spain protested before Black Friday to ask for higher pay. Three months later, Inditex agreed to raise the average salary for store workers in Spain by 20%.
