Union secures majority in factory, boss dismisses 80 workers

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On the day when United Metal Workers' Union entered the Ekmekçioğulları Metal Factory in Çorum province, over 80 workers were laid off.

Having joined the union affiliated with the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), workers were informed about their dismissal in a short message. Some were not informed at all; they learned about the issue when they came to work, but were unable to pass the retina scan.

When bianet tried to reach factory managers about the issue, they refused to comment. Speaking to bianet, United Metal Workers' Union Anatolian Branch Chair Deniz Ilgan has said that the workers have been dismissed after it was confirmed that the union secured majority in the factory.

Sharing further details about their efforts for organization in the factory since May upon the requests of the workers, Ilgan has said that they have achieved majority as of December and all workers joined the union.

'Employer called the gendarmerie'

Indicating that the union applied to the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Services for determination of majority, Ilgan has said that the results came from the ministry on Friday (December 4).

Ilgan has briefly shared the following information with bianet:

"It has been documented that our union is the union which is authorized to represent workers in the enterprise. The employer dismissed one person after this result. Then, on Monday (December 7), we learned that 20 workers had been dismissed. We have been informed that around 60 people have been dismissed since Monday.

"So, the employer has dismissed over 80 workers. Our fellow workers who were dismissed while using their Constitutional rights then gathered in an open area in front of the factory and began resisting there. The workers who are also members of the union, but have not been dismissed also supported the resistance, saying, 'Either all of us or none of us.'

"We have been protesting in this way for two days. The employer called the gendarmerie to the factory. There is gendarmerie everywhere. They are in the garden of the factory while we are still resisting in the open outside."

'They are dismissed despite lay-off ban'

Ilgan has also reminded us that lay-offs have been banned during the pandemic as per a Presidential Decree.

Accordingly, Ilgan has indicated that workers have been dismissed as per the Article 25 of the Labor Law, which refers to "situations (behaviors) that do not conform to the rules of morality and good faith."

"As he has dismissed them for reasons about the union, the boss will naturally try to disguise it under legal pretenses," Ilgan has said, adding that they as the union will do whatever is legally necessary: "It is blatantly obvious that our fellow workers have been dismissed for reasons related to the union. We will keep up our actual resistance apart from this."

Ilgan has indicated that workers have been getting minimum wage and added that the ones who have been working there get a monthly wage of around 2,700-2,800 Turkish Lira (~344-357 US dollars).

About Ekmekçioğulları

Founded by Hüseyin Ekmekçi, the company entered the sector in 1960 after Emek Bakır (Labor Copper) was established in Çorum. The process of corporatization started in the 1990s. Established as the second factory in early 2010s, Ekmekçioğulları Metal and Chemistry Ind. Inc. has been exporting to nearly 50 countries in America, Europe, Middle East and Asia.

While the Executive Board Chair of the company is Rüstem Ekmekçi, its General Manager is Özcan Ekmekçi and other board members are Bekir Ekmekçi, Orhan Ekmekçi, Hüseyin Ekmekçi and Bahri Ekmekçi. (HA/SD)