H&M will lay off more than a thousand employees in Spain

The Swedish clothing chain Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) will lay off more than 1,000 employees in Spain, who are currently included in the state's wage contribution program, the so-called short-time working, for the new coronavirus pandemic. The Spanish CCOO unions informed about it on Tuesday. The CCOO statement said that the second largest clothing retailer in the world, after the Spanish Inditex, will start redundancies, which will affect more than 1,000 people and will involve the closure of 30 stores. The unions described the closure of stores as "absolutely disproportionate" and the dismissal of personnel included in the state program as unjustified. According to the unions, while it is true that there may have been a change in consumer habits that could justify a change in the workforce, this does not in any way justify such a large number of redundant people. Especially given the fact that H&M benefited from the government's wage financing scheme for employees who had to stay at home during the pandemic. Funding for this program is one of the key measures taken by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's government to support an economy marked by months of blockades. This and other emergency measures to alleviate the crisis have cost the Spanish Treasury € 40 billion since the beginning of the pandemic. As compensation, companies are banned from laying off employees six months after the end of the system, which is currently due to run until 31 May, but is likely to be extended. H&M's net profit fell sharply in 2020 due to a pandemic. The chain has already announced that it will close 350 of its 5,000 stores worldwide and open another 100. Despite the decline in total sales, the company recorded a jump in online sales by more than 40 percent in 2020. Its share of total turnover increased by almost a third.