“What we have done has opened the way for other areas to come out to fight (…) We are very aware of these mobilizations”
Last year ended with a great victory for the Inditex saleswomen in A Coruña. After weeks of mobilizations, the bosses—the Ortegas—had to give in and the workers achieved a 25% wage increase in two years. After overcoming the scabbing of the strike by the CCOO and UGT, hand in hand with the company, the will to fight of this highly exploited sector prevailed.
Since then the fuse that lit in A Coruña has spread to many other areas of the State. The saleswomen have grown tired of not making ends meet and, after the successful strike called in January by the CGT, on February 11 they will return to the streets throughout the State due to the closure of the company to their just demands and against the demobilizing maneuvers of the CCOO and UGT that have agreed with the company a miserable 3% salary increase.
To talk about all this, we met with Lucía Domínguez and Verónica Rodríguez, delegates of the CIG and the Stradivarius works council in A Coruña.
The Militant.- What balance do you make of the results of the mobilizations?
Lucía and Verónica.- Seeing it now, with the perspective that these two months give, for us the most important thing is the change that took place in the way of thinking of the compañeras, even in those who until now had not participated in mobilizations. This fight has caused an awareness, realizing that we workers are capable of achieving things, feeling capable of it and also seeing that in the mobilization we were not the same as always and that through direct participation in assemblies we managed to things that seemed very difficult before. The experience has been that, with these methods, we can.
This is also very important if we take into account what the pandemic was and everything that happened: the feeling that many had of being “borrowed”, of being forced to accept everything due to the uncertainty that existed and the fear that they tried to put us in the body. After all, from the very dodgy atmosphere that this generated in the squads, it seemed that we were going backwards all the time and that head down prevailed, for this reason it was very necessary for people to become aware and recover.
Now many compañeras tell us that it attracts their attention and they are very satisfied that their effort, what they have done, what we have done together, has contributed and paved the way for other areas to fight for the same thing. , and they are very aware of these mobilizations. This change is even more important than having achieved a higher or lower salary increase. See that we need to articulate with colleagues from other provinces, from other areas of the State and verify that things can be achieved.
EM.- What are your goals now?
L. y V.- There are many things left to do. Not so much in the future, but in the day to day. We have to be aware, because the company tries to annul rights and breach even the agreements it signs. Despite the fact that we have just reached an economic agreement with the company, speaking for example in the case of Stradivarius, we are still unable to obtain full-time days, they continue to object to licenses and permits that we already had established as consolidated rights such as the accompaniment of sons and daughters to the doctor, they deny us increases in hours to be able to have a reduction with a decent income… This is our day to day.
Another issue that remained pending, because Inditex closed down, is social assistance, which must be fought for; and then there are the company’s movements on the subject of store closures, for example. They are part of the closures agreed with the CCOO and UGT in 2020, but they apply them now, just after we managed to start the salary increase. It is not accidental. On January 16, we are notified, just a few days in advance, of the closure of Bershka stores in Vilagarcia and Pontevedra, and of Massimo Dutti and Oysho in Santiago. It is great for the company to do it right now, it is their way of trying to instill fear and false messages like “you asked so much that now we have to close stores” and thus stop the rise of mobilization in other areas. of the State. With these closures they intend to force workers to take “voluntary” vacancies in other cities, without respecting schedules or conciliation, but they are finding the same answer: an indefinite strike.
