Worker wins the legal struggle 4 years after her dismissal

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Dismissed from the Yazaki automotive supply industry factory in Bursa's Gemlik in June 2017, Dilek Gültekin has won her legal struggle.

The Bursa 2nd Labor Court, the local court, gave a ruling in favor of Gültekin last year. The company took the ruling to the appeals court. The 3rd Penal Chamber of the Bursa Regional Court of Justice, the appeals court, has rejected the appeal.

Resisting in front of the factory for 43 days after being dismissed, Gültekin says, "Seeing the support I have received, I have already mentally won the resistance. I have now won it legally as well."

Dismissed from the factory after working there for 13 months, Gültekin states that while the employer told her that she was dismissed from her job "due to her low performance", she proved it at court, with evidence, that what really happened was different.

'I raised my voice against unjust acts'

Noting that she was dismissed because she was raising her voice against the performance pressure, mobbing and sexual harassment and was in a union organization, Gültekin recounts what she went through as follows:

"Yazaki was a place marked by intense exploitation of labor. There was systematic pressure at the factory. Workers were dismissed before the expiry of the 2-month trial period or the 1-year period to acquire the right of compensation. We started getting unionized for better working conditions.

"Right afterwards, the headworker started to constantly harass the women working on the line verbally and physically. The Yazaki executives protected this headworker and covered up the incidents. We launched a campaign demanding the dismissal of the headworker.

"Taken together, this petition campaign was the last straw. I was dismissed 13 months after I was hired because I raised my voice.

'The factory fixed itself up after the resistance'

"I thought that resistance should be put up against these conditions. This process concurred with the State of Emergency. I was detained twice in the first days of the resistance, but I received great support in that period. Turkey-wide support... Especially the people of the region and the workers of other factories in the surrounding area had always stood by me.

"The factory stepped up its pressure on me in the meanwhile. They put ads on newspapers, they hung my pictures on rest areas and the dining hall. But as the resistance continued, the pressure and harassment at the factory declined and stopped. They started to fix themselves up. Since then, the working conditions and rights have been improved at the factory. It has become one of the preferred factories in the region.

"Given the support I received and the signs that the factory was fixing itself up, I had already mentally won the resistance I put up. When I started the resistance, I knew that the Yazaki would not reinstate me in my job. It has never reinstated a dismissed worker in its history.

"And no one has raised their voices against this or against the unjust acts that they were faced with. People apparently moved on with their lives after they were dismissed from the factory.

She has won both the court case and resistance

"I was aware of this. I just thought that one should raise one's voice against injustice. It was especially important that in a period like the State of Emergency, a woman worker put up a resistance and raised her voice on her own. The resistance continued for me for 43 days. As it ended in a win for me mentally, I ended the resistance and started the legal struggle.

"The court case I filed was concluded last year. The local court ruled for reinstatement and the payment of a 4+12-month damages for unionization. So, the trial ended in my favor. Yazaki appealed against the local court ruling and took it to the appeals court. A year after the local court ruling, the appeals court rejected Yazaki's appeal, thereby making the ruling final.

"I applied for my reinstatement a few weeks ago. I am now waiting for the decision of the factory." (HA/SD)