Zara is working to create a ‘hardship fund’ to compensate the garment workers in Turkey who reportedly went unpaid for three months.
Shoppers in Istanbul found messages from workers at an outsourced manufacturer (that makes clothes for Zara and other retailers) slipped inside the pockets of the clothes being sold in a Zara store.
The messages reportedly said: “I made this item you are going to buy but I didn’t get paid for it.”
A Zara representative confirmed to HuffPost UK the workers staged a protest last week, which resulted in the hidden messages found in Zara garments.
The workers were employed by the owner of a Bravo Tetil factory, with whom Zara cut ties. This resulted in the factory being closed suddenly.
The factory workers reportedly had not been paid for up to three months and there was no severance pay once they were let go.
Zara issued the following statement to HuffPost UK: “Inditex has met all of its contractual obligations to Bravo Textil and is currently working on a proposal with the local IndustriALL affiliate, Mango and Next to establish a hardship fund for the workers affected by the fraudulent disappearance of the Bravo factory’s owner.
“This hardship fund would cover unpaid wages,” continues the statement, as well as “notice indemnity, unused vacation and severance payments of workers that were employed at the time of the sudden shutdown of their factory in July 2016.
“We are committed to finding a swift solution for all of those impacted.”
Many have taken to Change.org to sign a petition for Zara, Next and Mango to pay these workers, which has already gained over 20,000 signatures.