The pact with H & M is one of a series of agreements the company has reached with affiliates of Union Network International, a world-wide coalition of labor unions that has pressed the Swedish retailer to accept unionization.

Under the terms of an agreement negotiated earlier this year, H & M agreed to a process called “card check recognition” which required the company to respect the decision of employees to have representation once a majority signed cards affirming their support for the union. The company also pledged not to interfere with the workers’ efforts to organize.

“By respecting the right of employees to join our union, H & M is setting an example other retailers should follow,” said RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum, adding that he expects the National Labor Relations to certify the union as the workers’ collective bargaining agent.

“Ninety-two percent of private-sector employers, when faced with employees who want to join together in a union, force workers to attend closed-door meetings to hear anti-union propaganda,” said Appelbaum, referring to a study by Cornell University Professor Kate Bronfenbrenner. “H & M’s management can take pride in the fact that they decided to live up to a higher standard of corporate citizenship.’

“The success at H & M demonstrates that, when employers don’t interfere, workers will freely choose to have a union,” Appelbaum said.

The newly organized employees, who work at nine H & M stores in Manhattan, will be represented by Local 1102 RWDSU UFCW. The local’s president, Frank Bail, said
“The workers at H & M have been very clear that they want to see a change for the better in their wages, benefits and working conditions and we want to get to work to help make that happen,” Bail said.

“By joining together, the workers at H & M succeeded in winning their right to have a union. By staying together they’ll be able to win a good contract,” Bail added.