Dive Brief:
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Zara employees in New York City voted to join The Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union Local 1102 union, a final step in formalizing the collective bargaining relationship, Buzzfeed reported on Monday.
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Zara management and Inditex, the Spanish retailer's parent company, gave a presentation to New York City employees in September about the benefits of organizing a union and how to join one.
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RWDSU Local 1102 also represents retail employees in the area who work for department stores like Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Modell’s Sporting Goods, Saks Fifth Avenue and Cole Haan.
Dive Insight:
Inditex and Zara’s positive response to the New York City union is a stark contrast to actions previously taken by other retailers. Earlier this year, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was one retail giant that took steps to hinder employee organization, which courts deemed unlawful. In September, the company shuttered five stores and reopened them later in what critics said was an anti-worker move. Inditex, by comparison, seems to be embracing the organizational move. “This is a normal consequence of our commitment regarding the rights of freedom of association worldwide,” Inditex said in a statement to BuzzFeed.
RWDSU has criticized Zara’s use of algorithms to set worker schedules, highlighting the retailer in a 2014 report, “Short Shifted.” One former cashier at a New York City Zara store, Melody Pabon, told the New York Daily News that her hours were cut by 30% that year. “It’s super hard. I lost 10 hours each week and was getting sent home early if it was slow," the 26-year-old Brooklyn mom said. "I was barely getting by.”
The report contends that unionized workers have many more protections. Empoyees at the Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, H&M and Modell’s Sporting Goods in New York City know their schedule three weeks ahead of time, can work full time and have guaranteed hours, even if a shift sees few customers due to the weather or because fewer than anticipated shoppers show up for a sale. “The biggest issue for workers today is scheduling,” RWDSU president Stuart Appelbaum told the New York Times in 2014. “It’s not just about how much they’re paid per hour, but how many hours a week they get to work.”
Issues of scheduling are likely to be a focus for the union at Zara, especially in light of New York's recently enacted statewide $15 minimum wage plan and a 12-week paid family leave policy, which will take full effect in 2018.