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The workers who were fired by the Flormar cosmetics company because of unionizing decided to end their resistance at the meeting held at the Petroleum, Chemical, Rubber, Workers' Union of Turkey (Petrol İş) yesterday (March 7) in Gebze district in Kocaeli province.
The workers said to bianet that they got their severance pays but are not able to return to their jobs.
The women workers have been protesting since January 2018.
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"There is a bitter joy"
Worker Ayşe Öztürk
Ayşe Öztürk, a resisting worker, told bianet that there is some success but they are sad that they are not able to return to their jobs:
"Flormar is finished for us. In yesterday's meeting, we made a decision through democratic voting. 53 of our friends voted for not continuing to protest, 20 friends said 'We shall continue'. We got our compensations but are not able to return to our jobs.
"At the end, we ended our protests. We will go on with new jobs. There is a bitter joy inside us. We made monetary gains but could not return to our jobs. This is saddening for us."
"Resist, struggle"
Calling out to women who want to be unionized but do not do that because of the fear of losing their jobs, Öztürk said,
"Women should absolutely be unionized without hesitation. We learned many things when we were resisting. Being dismissed a job is not the end of everything. Resistance is very important despite everything. Women should not retreat from these areas. I can call out to them, 'Resist, struggle.'"
What happened?In January 2018, the workers who work at the Flormar cosmetics company began to become members of the Petroleum, Chemical, Rubber, Workers' Union of Turkey (Petrol-İş). When the union established majority among the workers and acquired the certificate of authority, the workers who were members of the union were fired. 115 workers, many of whom were women, were fired. The workers supporting them by applause were also fired or forced to resign for "supporting people who are demonstrating illegally at break times or at various times, disturbing the peace in the working environment, acting in ways which are incompatible with rightness and commitment." On the 11th day of the protest, authorities of the Flormar company put wired fences and awning in front of the factory to cut the communication between the protesting workers and the workers still working inside the factory. Numerous civil society organizations called for Boycott against Yves Rocher and Flormar products and numerous famous actresses declared support for Flormar workers. |
(EMK/VK)
