MILAN – H&M Hennes & Mauritz AB’s Italian workers are rising up against the company. Last month, the Swedish fast-fashion giant revealed the closure of four stores in Italy and has started the formal procedure for the dismissal of 89 employees. For this reason, workers decided to strike on June 10.
According to a statement released by the UILTuCS Lombardia trade union on Thursday, employees will gather and protest in front of the Milanese flagship in central Piazza San Bibila, which is one of the four units planned to be shut down by the company. The other stores are located in Corso Buenos Aires in Milan and in the cities of Cremona and Mestre.
“We find the dismissal absolutely unfair,” said UILTuCS Lombardia general secretary Michele Tamburrelli, underscoring how the company doesn’t have any financial issue motivating the procedure.
In 2016, H&M group’s sales including VAT, converted into Swedish krona, increased 6 percent to 222.87 billion kronor, or $25.5 billion at current exchange. In the first quarter of 2017, the group’s total sales including VAT rose 7 percent to 54.4 billion kronor, or $6.2 billion.
In the statement, the dismissal was defined as a “clear attempt to [hire younger] employees while further increasing the [company’s] profits.” In addition, the note addressed the
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