Kering Employees Strike in Italy, Demand More Remote Work Days

Kering employees in Italy go on strike. Workers have announced four-hour work stoppages and demonstrations for this Tuesday in Milan and Scandicci, near Florence, in protest against the reduction of teleworking, which has gone from two days to only one a week.

The pressure measure will affect staff at the French group’s brands, including Gucci, Balenciaga, Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Ginori 1735, Bottega Veneta and Kering Italia, the unions said.

The unions criticize the conglomerate’s “unwillingness” to “engage in dialogue,“ as well as its “rigidity” and the “unilateral decisions” it has taken on teleworking, which “set back labor relations and workers’ rights.“

In November last year, the company communicated its decision to reduce the possibility of teleworking from eight to four days a month in order to “promote cohesion, professional collaboration, and the creation of a new working environment with professional collaboration and development”, and to be aligned with other companies in the sector, which are acting in the same direction.

The decision to reduce teleworking was taken in November last year, and has been postponed

The agreement that set telework days per month at eight, however, was extended until May 2025 and then until September 30th. The new telework policy began in October.

This action comes months after Kering unveiled a new CEO, with Luca de Meo at the helm, who took the baton on September 15th. De Meo arrives with the aim of turning the company around and reinforcing efficiency to improve results.

The truth is that, since Amazon opened the door with the end of teleworking in September last year, several business groups have followed in his footsteps. As of this year, the e-commerce giant’s employees have returned to the office five days a week.

Last year, Nike also reduced telecommuting and decided that staff should work in the office four days a week. Primark has waited until this summer to call its product team workers in Dublin back to face-to-face, except for one day a week. At around the same time, John Lewis followed suit.

Kering, hit by the luxury crisis

Kering continues to post declining results. The French luxury giant, also affected by the crisis facing the segment since the end of 2023, closed the first three months of the year with a 14% drop in sales. The main reason: Gucci, which ended the period with a 24% drop in sales.

Thus, the Pinault family group closed the first quarter of the year with sales of €3.885 billion, compared to €4.504 billion in the same period of 2024. Gucci, the company’s sales driver, ended the period with sales of €1.571 billion, compared to more than €2 billion in the first quarter of 2024.