On 4 August 2020, Industria de Diseño Textil, S.A., a Spanish multinational, and IndustriALL Global Union released a joint statement to “re-affirm their commitments to work together to support the economic and social recovery of the global garment industry through Covid-19 crisis along with global and national relevant stakeholders”.

The statement highlighted that “In order to minimize the impacts of the global Covid-19 pandemic, Inditex and IndustriALL Global Union publicly reaffirm and strengthen their commitments to work together with the suppliers through the following actions:

To continue to ensure the respect of freedom of association and collective bargaining rights along the company ́s supply chain in an effective way […];

To promote social dialogue with information, consultation and negotiation at all levels as the main way to solve conflicts as both parties understand that social dialogue constitutes the most valuable mechanism for the promotion of mature industrial relations;

To ensure the health and safety of all workers throughout the Inditex supply chain. […] Both organizations agree to work along with national and international organizations (i.e. ILO) on specific guidelines as suppliers resume normal operations; this work will be monitored by Inditex and Global Union Committee established under the renewed GFA (Global Framework Agreement) in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders.

[…]

To continue to develop the company’s responsible purchasing practices […] Both organizations will work together under the ACT initiative on living wages to embed these good practices through the garment and footwear sector and promote industry-wide collective bargaining.

[…]”.

Inditex has been very active in its participation in the “Call to Action in the Global Garment Industry” that has been described here and here.

With this joint Statement, Inditex and IndustriALL also commit “to work jointly with governments and business organizations in Inditex ́s sourcing markets to promote their engagement”.

Moreover, Inditex undertook a series of measures to face the pandemic, both at the national and global levels. As the company indicates, “in line with our responsible purchasing practices policy, we have guaranteed payment for all orders already placed and in the process of production, upholding the original terms and speeding up payment in the instances in which logistical issues were impeding delivery of the merchandise”.