Police prevent dismissed Cargill workers' demonstration in front of ministry

Photo: Cargill Workers' Committee / Twitter

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Workers who were dismissed from Cargill factory after being unionized attempted to hold a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry on the occasion of the 1000th day of their protest.

When the workers gathered in front of the Tek Gıda-İş union building, the police prevented them from going to the ministry, saying that their demonstration would not be allowed because of the pandemic measures.

Surrounded by the riot police, the workers said they wouldn't give up resistance until their demands were met.

While the police didn't allow other groups to support the protest, they told the workers to disperse multiple times.

Suat Karlıkaya, who is responsible for the union's organization affairs, said, "If we can't read out a statement in front of the Ministry of Agriculture, it's meaningless that we do it here. We are going nowhere. But we ask our friends who came here to support the workers to leave."

Noting that Cargill refused to implement the court ruling for the reinstatement of the dismissed workers, Karlıkaya said, "Until the workers' demand to be reinstated is met, our resistance will continue. They are preventing us from reading out a statement in front of the ministry because of the pandemic."

"We'll spend the night outside. If necessary, we'll sit on the sidewalk in the cold in Ankara. We are resisting for our honor and we won't give up resisting," he added.

Workers continue to wait in front of the union building.

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)