Italy: first company-level agreement for the 3,500 workers employed by Zara

After more than two years of wrangling, Italian trade unions have managed to force the Spanish clothing giant Inditex to yield, by obtaining the first company-level agreement for employees of its emblematic subsidiary, Zara, in Italy. This unprecedented agreement brings support, in particular, to young mothers who are employed, limiting evening work for them.
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“It has been a difficult process, comprising long negotiations, tense confrontations and rallying”; this is how Sabina Bigazzi, from the Filcams-Cgil trade union, described the lengthy process endured by the employees from around one hundred Zara shops in Italy, before finally obtaining their very first company agreement. Until this point, the trade unions had only managed to sign a protocol on social dialogue, as well as an agreement on the organisation of work. This was achieved in the face o

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