After 1,280 days of resistance, union gets authorization at Cargill factory

Photo: Bursa Workers' Newspaper/Twitter

Click to read the article in Turkish

Workers at the Cargill factory in Bursa, northwestern Turkey, announced yesterday (October 19) that they received a union authorization certificate.

The workers had been protesting for their union rights for 1,280 days.

The Tekgıda-İş union invited the employers to a collective bargaining and said it had removed the protest tent in front of the factory as a "goodwill gesture."

After being dismissed in 2018 due to "quota excess and downsizing," 14 workers had set up a resistance tent. The workers' protest had turned into one of the longest-running protests in front of a factory in the country.

"Give up your stubbornness now, throw your excuses in the garage bin," said İbrahim Önen, the general organization secretary of the union, addressing the employees.

"Our rights are too important to be left to the mercy of the bosses," he remarked.

"Recognize this country's laws"

"Recognize the constitutional right of the workers who haven't given up their struggle to organize.

"Now show that you recognize this country's laws by respecting the determination of majority granted by the Ministry of Labor to our union.

"Reinstate our friends who were dismissed. It's not too late for anything.

"All the leading companies of the food industry in our country are constantly growing and increasing their investments with our union.

"Cargill will pave a brighter path for itself with Tekgıda-İş Union. We are here today with the document of the determination of majority given to us by the Ministry of Labor.

"We are temporarily suspending our protest in front of the factory, hoping that you will respect the legal and constitutional rights as we have taken responsibility. We are removing our protest tent as a goodwill gesture.

"In return, we ask you to open the door for negotiations with our union, without objecting to the majority [decision] of the ministry, and by respecting the right to be unionized of the workers who have brought you to these days."

What happened?

Tekgıda-İş union's organization head Suat Karlıkaya had told bianet about how they decided to start a resistance:

"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."

About Cargill

Cargill, a global food company based in Minnesota, USA, was founded in 1865. It is the highest-grossing company in the United States today. It operates in the food, agriculture, finance and industrial production sectors.

Cargill started its activities in Turkey in 1960 with a domestic partnership and has continued under its own name since 1986. Today it has more than 600 employees in İstanbul, Bursa, Adana, Ankara, Balıkesir, Kocaeli and İzmir provinces.

Cargill's activities in Turkey as follows: Production and sale of starch and sweetener; production and sale of edible vegetable oil; oleo-chemical and bio-industrial products; sale of cocoa and chocolate products; sales of products thickener solution; belonging to the animal nutrition premix, the mixture of basic and special products production and sale.

Food monopoly, which has signed many controversial practices in agriculture, especially GMO seeds, asserts that they "meet the food needs of the world".

(AS/VK)