The protest is part of a day of mobilization across Spain affecting workers from major firms such as Inditex, Mango, H&M, Tendam, and Primark. UGT describes the strike as a "historic event," being the first such call in the sector nationwide, and has urged employees to gather in front of stores and shopping centers.
In Alicante, the mobilization follows protests previously organized by the union a month ago on the same Maisonnave Avenue, when dozens of union delegates and workers from large fashion chains gathered to reject the pre-agreement of the state agreement.
The union maintains that the new state agreement could affect over 200,000 workers and denounces that the pre-agreement reached with the employers' association "eliminates rights" consolidated in various territories. In the case of the Valencian Community, UGT warns that the text would represent a setback compared to the regional agreement recently renewed until 2028.
In the province of Alicante, organizers report that the pre-agreement would imply the loss of salary increases linked to seniority, the end of voluntary work on Sundays and holidays, and the elimination of three additional vacation days associated with working Saturday afternoons during the summer period.
The union organization also points out that, across the Valencian Community, rights such as paid medical hours, special leaves of absence, reduced working hours for childcare up to 14 years of age, or temporary disability supplements, among others, could be affected.
One of the main points of rejection is the creation of an ad personam salary supplement to integrate the differences between current conditions and those foreseen in the new agreement. UGT warns that these amounts could be absorbed or compensated in the future, which, in its view, would imply a loss of purchasing power in the medium term and a hidden salary freeze.
The union also denounces that the agreed structure allows for hiring new personnel with economic conditions lower than those of individuals with greater seniority. This dual salary scale, according to UGT, could incentivize the replacement of workers with better conditions by new hires with lower labor costs, affecting job stability and the principle of equal pay.
Another aspect questioned is the prevalence of the state agreement of Arte once provincial and regional agreements expire. For UGT, this formula restricts the autonomy of territorial collective bargaining and may prevent the maintenance or improvement of rights already recognized in lower-level agreements.
The union also rejects the regulation of Sundays and holidays for commercial opening, considering that it leaves the organization of work on those days in the hands of companies. UGT maintains that in many territories this provision is currently voluntary and that the new framework could make it mandatory when the company claims that the necessary staff is not guaranteed to open the store.
For its part, Arte defends that the pre-agreement is still under negotiation and that what has been agreed promotes "equity and real improvement" of the sector's working conditions. The president of the employers' association, Ana López-Casero, has appealed for "responsible dialogue" and denied that the agreement entails a cut in rights. The pre-agreement was signed on March 26 by Arte, CC OO, and Fetico, with the rejection of UGT and CIG.
UGT insists that its objective is for the state agreement to function as a minimum framework and for territorial, regional, and company negotiations to prevail. In Alicante, the mobilization has served to highlight the rejection of part of the workforce to the direction of the negotiation and to demand that "not a single one" of the current rights be lost.
