Gucci Faces Union Dispute in Italy Over 2025 Welfare Benefits

Yahoo

14 hours ago

MILAN — Italian trade unions are taking aim at Gucci for allegedly breaching promises made to about 1,000 of its employees in Italy on welfare benefits for 2025.
The Filcams Cgil, Fisascat Cisl and Uiltucs unions have proclaimed a state of unrest on behalf of the Gucci employees active in retail and logistics operations, claiming that the luxury company has allegedly refused to distribute welfare packages that are part of their employment contract. The welfare package was introduced under the collective supplementary agreement signed in July 2022 and expired on Dec. 31, 2024. Trade unions claim it is still to be beyond its term for the principle of 'continued application.'
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Trade unions claim that Gucci's management had provided clear assurances regarding the continuation of the package in 2025 but has since changed its position, making the disbursement conditional upon a broader revision of the incentive scheme previously agreed upon for the 2022 to 2024 period.
Gucci representatives did not return WWD's repeated requests for comment on Tuesday.
'The company, through what can only be described as a wholly instrumental behavior, has done nothing but waste valuable time, mocking the commitment of the workers who show up every day in the stores and who had been waiting — and continue to wait — for the welfare package,' a statement jointly issued by the unions read.
'We consider the company's conduct to be extremely serious. For this reason, we are declaring a nationwide state of industrial unrest, with potential trade union actions to be announced locally,' the unions said.
Gucci is in the midst of a turnaround attempt as it awaits the debut of its new creative director Demna, who is to show his first designs for the Italian house on Sept. 23 during Milan Fashion Week. As reported, the brand won't stage a runway show until March 2026, with the September presentation intended more as a reminder of Gucci's foundations, to be accompanied by a sprinkling of see now, buy now products in stores.
In the second quarter of 2025, Gucci's organic sales dropped 25 percent versus the same period last year, weighing on the overall performance of parent company Kering. In the three months to June 31 group sales fell 18 percent at reported exchange rates to 3.70 billion euros, representing a decline of 15 percent in comparable terms.
Kering said that net profit plummeted 46 percent in the first half of the year as sales at its cash-cow brand Gucci continued to drop, highlighting the challenges faced by incoming group chief executive officer Luca de Meo when he takes the reins in September.
In the first half of the year, Gucci trimmed its store count by 18 units, as part of a broader retail rationalization process implemented by Kering across its brands, which will see a total of 80 store closures in 2025, up from the 50 announced at the start of the year.
As part of deepening cost-cutting measures, Kering reduced its overall headcount by 4 percent year-to-date. Staffing levels at Gucci are 22 percent below their 2022 peak, the French group said.
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