Background information

Inditex and the unions UGT and CCOO have agreed to maintain employment during the digital transformation process that the textile manufacturing and retail group is addressing and that implies a change in the business model: larger stores with technologically advanced tools and the closure of smaller stores without the capacity to adapt to this model. This agreement takes place in a context of crisis particularly important for the textile retail sector in Spain. Inditex has specifically announced the closure of around 300 stores in Spain.

Content of measure

The agreement between Inditex and trade unions articulates the procedure so that the workforce of closed stores have the option of mobility to the rest of the existing stores or to the new ones that the group will open. Likewise, Inditex will offer employment alternatives in the group's logistics areas and in its administrative central services. In this sense, a maximum of 25 kilometers is set for transfers to other establishments, always prioritizing vacancies in nearby stores in the same city or neighboring towns. Furthermore, if the transfer involves a change of address, the company will reimburse the moving expenses up to a limit of €3,000. The agreement also offers an alternative to those employees who decide not to accept the transfer proposal: the person will have the right to compensation of 33 days per year worked with a limit of two annualities (45 days for employees in the company before 2012). In any case, the agreement extends these conditions to relocated workers for one year to prioritise maintaining employment. The relocation plan is accompanied by a training plan, especially in digital skills, to be able to tackle their new tasks.

Use of measure

Agreement to be implemented.

Contents

• Employment retention
• Leave arrangements
• Training and employability
• Work organisation

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Particular professions	Does not apply to businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Company / Companies	Companies

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative	No involvement
Form	Not applicable	Not applicable

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Only trade unions
• Main level of involvement: Company level

Involvement

The agreement contemplates the creation of an 'Observatory of New Realities', which will have a joint character and will address the implementation of the various projects. This observatory will have periodic meetings where the general evolution of the sector and its major innovation trends will be analyzed, as well as the consequences that these may have on the working conditions of the staff.

The unions highlight the dialogue between both parties has allowed to lay the foundations to correctly articulate this process, so that when a store is absorbed, the staff will be offered relocation to other stores, regardless of the chain of origin and destination.

Views and reactions

The commerce federation of CCOO union considers the agreement very important to initiate a path in the sector to tackle the digital transition through collective bargaining. The commerce federation of UGT union highlighs that the agreement demonstrates that digital transformation in companies must come together with the maintenance of jobs.

Sectors and occupations

Sources

• 26 October 2020: Inditex firma un acuerdo para mantener el empleo con la transformación digital de la empresa (www.expansion.com)
• 27 October 2020: El desplome de ventas por el coronavirus obliga a Inditex a cerrar más de 250 tiendas en España (www.zamora24horas.com)
• 27 October 2020: Inditex firma mantener plantilla en España pese al cierre de 300 tiendas (www.laopinioncoruna.es)