Workers of a solar panel factory not paid their wages, severance for over 2 years

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The CSUN Eurasia Energy Systems, a manufacturer of solar panels in İstanbul, was established in 2012 with the incentive of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and opened by Taner Yıldız, the then Minister of Energy and Natural Resources from the ruling party.

The factory was closed in 2018.

With the factory closed, 400 workers were dismissed without their wages or their severance and notice pays. Struggling for their rights for over two years now, the workers say that no one addresses their problems, complaining that the Turkish Employment Agency (İŞKUR) does not pay the three-month wages as part of the Wage Guarantee Fund, either.

'First aggrieved by factory, then by İŞKUR'

Erden Yurdungüzeli, a 36-year-old former worker of the factory, speaks to bianet about the issue. "The managers have left the country. I worked there for two and a half years. I worked there day and night. I still have unpaid severance pay and wages," says Yurdungüzeli.

He also informs us that workers got organized under the roof of the United Metal Workers' Union (Birleşik Metal-İş) affiliated with the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK).Yurdungüzeli underlines that they were first aggrieved by the factory and, then, by the state agency İŞKUR.

"CSUN was a partnership of Turkey and China," says the worker and adds:

"We were manufacturing solar panels. Shortly after the factory was opened the partner from Turkey terminated the partnership. There remained only the partners from China. After a couple of years, they told us that the factory was not in good shape and announced that they would go downsizing.

"They started to invite workers to meetings in groups of 15. They talked about the situation and asked them to leave the factory voluntarily. We did not do it at the time, thinking that the things would perhaps get better in time. The production at the factory was still ongoing anyway. We started to stockpile what we produced. It went on like this for some time.

"Right in the beginning of 2018, all managers left Turkey. First, we did not know what to do. Then, we started a resistance at the factory. They tried to take the stockpiled products with articulated lorries, we did not let them. At last, we lost our jobs without our severance pay and wages. We have been struggling for our unpaid money for two and a half years, but we can find no one to address our demands, neither from the company nor from the state.

"I have the right to get 16 thousand 500 lira severance pay for my work from 2015 to 2018; I have also not received my 3-month wage. There are also other workers who worked there longer than me. There are workers who had worked there for 10 years and have been unable to get their rights.

"Everyone is aggrieved as the owners of the factory escaped. I could not find a job for a long time after I left the job. Now, I am making ends meet by working, but there are people who have still been unable to find work. The unpaid wages and severance pay can save the lives of those who have been unemployed for years. We have given a power of attorney to the union's attorneys. The process is going on. But how many years have passed?"

Aydın: There is no legal ground

United Metal Workers' Union (Birleşik Metal-İş) Gebze No. 2 Branch Chair Necmettin Aydın also says that after the workers were unionized, they made collective labor agreements for two terms, but the things took a turn for the worse at the end of the second labor agreement.

According to Aydın, the managers of the factory told them that "the factory in China was not supporting the one in Turkey."

"We saw that the factory was in trouble, but we could not do anything as it was following the legal procedures. Workers' wages were being paid in this process. But, then, the managers also left Turkey and escaped," says Aydın, adding that they left without even dismissing the workers:

"We also had problems because the factory managers left without dismissing the workers. Because, in that case, workers could get neither their wages nor their unemployment pays. Albeit by force, we managed to ensure that the workers were dismissed by contacting a human resources official. But we could not get the severance or notice pay.

"There were attachments on the machines in the factory in that period. The creditors put the factory in pledge. We started a legal process so that what was inside the factory could be sold and the severance and notice pays could be paid; we followed the procedures, but we could not do it as the banks imposed attachments on all assets of the factory.

"There is no legal ground that foresees the payment of workers' severance and notice pays in such cases. However, there is the Wage Guarantee Fund of the İŞKUR to prevent workers of bankrupt factories from being aggrieved. This fund ensures that workers can be paid three wages.

'Not possible to get severance, notice pay'

"We applied to court for this so that it could be confirmed that all assets of the factory had been sold. Inspectors came from Debt Collection Offices and confirmed that they had been sold. We wanted to have a final attachment certificate. They gave us a temporary attachment document, saying that it would suffice and there was no need for the final one.

"We rectified all deficiencies and applied to the İŞKUR with the document given by the inspectors. But they have been stalling us since then. İŞKUR is causing us trouble about this issue. In fact, everything at the factory has been sold. There is nothing about the sale. Even though we have documented it, we have been unable to get the wages of our friends.

"Now, we are waiting for a document from the Bakırköy Debt Collection Office, indicating that there has remained nothing at the factory to be sold. We will make another application after receiving the document. We will try to get at least the three-month wages. Because it is no longer possible to get the severance and notice pays. We are after what needs to be given now. The company is not here, it has no activity in Turkey.

"Everyone working at the factory is aggrieved. Everyone has been struggling for their rights for two and a half years. There is an aggrievement, but there are legal loopholes and this aggrievement cannot be eliminated in any way. The severance and notice pays are no more, but we are struggling at least for the three-month wages that the law foresees in similar cases so that the aggrievement of our friends can be alleviated." (HA/SD)