After 234 days of strike, almost 8 months, the H&M workers of La Morea de Pamplona have reached an agreement, the result has been a salary increase of 24.7% of the 13 workers, who will return to their job today.

"We will come back with a head up," explains ELA representative Amaya Aristu, who is in charge of negotiating with the company during these months. They began the strike on 9 December until June and, above all, from the Sanfermines, they began to feel in favour of a company agreement. The willingness to speak materialized between 13 and 14 July and "means recovering the lost purchasing power since the last year in which the Navarre textile industry agreement was revised since 2009", explains the ELA representative.

Workers will recover 100% of lost purchasing power. On the one hand, the remuneration will be increased by 24.7% for both sellers and managers from 1 July 2023 and the reference wages will be EUR 20,963 and EUR 23,600 per year, respectively. Part-time workers will be added an average of 5 more hours per week. This represents an increase between 16% and 20% of the real wage compared to the increase in tables.

In late 2022, when the activity resumed after the pandemic, ELA denounced the Navarre textile trade agreement and "the workers of La Morea decided to support the creation of their own agreement," explains Rebeca de Carlos of the ELA union. After the company refused to accept the workers’ claims, an indefinite strike began on 9 December. "What we were clear about is that we would not return under the same conditions," explains Amaya Aristu, recalling the pressures received to end the strike.

Likewise, ELA highly values the agreement reached with H&M and De Carlos highlights the attitude of workers "the key has been the unity of workers". The union made available to workers a resistance fund that allowed workers to keep the strike and recover lost purchasing power.