Cargill Workers' Resistance on 500th Day: 'When We Win, the Working Class will Win"

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Workers who took action in front of the factory after becoming members of Tekgıda-İş Union while working in Cargill have been in resistance for 500 days.

First, 14 workers who resisted in front of the factory in Orhangazi, Bursa, began a sit-in in front of the company's headquarters in Palladium Tower in Ataşehir, İstanbul, on August 20.

The workers, who have been waiting there for 24 hours, sleep in sleeping bags, on the mats they laid on the ground.

When we asked, "Is it not difficult to be in the street like this?" Tekgıda-İş Union Organization Officer Suat Karlıkaya replied, "It's hard, of course."

"It is difficult to sleep or to meet the need for a toilet. It is hard in the sun, hard in the rain. But we set out on this path, knowing the challenges. We got used to fighting that way, too. We're in a cause where we demand our rights, and we believe we will win."

"We have no problems with food, we eat more here than at home. Those who come for solidarity do not leave us alone, they break bread with us," he said.

Workers who became members of the Tekgıda-İş union were fired from the US-based food company Cargill, which started producing starch-based sugar and animal feed in Orhangazi, Bursa in 1999. The workers won the reinstatement case they filed, but the company appealed the decision. The case is in the court of appeal.

The workers, however, want the court order to be enforced and get back to their jobs.

Karlıkaya told us how they decided to resist:

"The workers would either go and work in another factory, and when they sought their rights there they would be dismissed again, or they would resist here and fight where they were wronged. We decided on a joint fight."

Noting that the case they filed resulted in their favor, Karlıkaya said, "We have only one demand, to start work."

"The expert witness, who submitted an opinion to the court, wrote a report that the workers had been dismissed due to trade union activities, not because of the 'quotas' as the employer claimed. And the court followed that report, ruling that we are right. "The court ruled for the workers' return to work and for union compensation. Workers earned compensation starting from 4 net 12 brutes. But our request is to be reinstated.

"The employer has appealed the decision. We will continue our struggle. When this resistance is won, not just 14 workers, but the working class will win. We expect solidarity."

(AS/VK)