Union Busting by US Corp In Turkey

[Labor Video Project]

From: Labor Video Project <lvpsf>

/* Written  9:53 PM  Sep  8, 1994 by lvpsf in igc:labr.turkey */
/* ---------- "Union Busting by US Corp In Turkey" ---------- */
From: Labor Video Project <lvpsf>
Subject: US Bosses Layoff Workers For Organizing


WORKERS FOOLED BY THE UNION
 
   30 Workers were laid off on June 27 from a U.S. based Pioneer Seed
factory in Adana which produces quality seeds due to economical crises. 
The workers on the other hand claimed that the lay offs were not due to
economical crises but rather was a political move of the owners to destroy
the union organization. 
 
   The workers working without a union from the first days of the Pioneer
Seed started to organize for a union in 1992.  They went and talked to
TARIM-IS (Agricultural Workers Union) first.  But they were rejected by
this union on the basis that 'they would have a lot of problems'.  Then
they went to 'Land, Water, Agriculture and Forest Workers Union' under
DISK (Confederation of Revolutionary Workers Union) which was called
Devrimci Toprak Is (Revolutionary Land Workers Union) at that time.  With
the efforts of the union the workers were able to bring the union to the
factory. 
 
   But the counter attacks of the business owners started at the same
time.  First they challenged the union by a lawsuit on authority.  They
showed all managers, team leaders, personnel managers as workers and tried
to show that the "workers" did not want the union.  In this process they
even showed the managers working in Istanbul as employed workers in Adana. 
But the court decided for the union in January 1994. 
 
   The workers who are fired today hold the union as the primary
responsible party.  They claim that the union was acting negatively from
the first collective bargaining and continued all the way to taking the
side of the employers on the issue of the firings. 
 
   Workers' representatives Erdogan Akgun, Hazim Guntekin and Mehmet Senol
who participated in the negotiations say that the Union kept the 30% pay
increase that was given every six months out of the negotiations and
forced the workers to give up the unpaid rights accrued in the last 20
months. 
 
   Hazim Gultekin says that the workers did not want to sign the contract
because it contained too many concessions.  But the employer sent the
threat via the union to the workers that "all the workers belonged to the
PKK (illegal Workers Party of Kurdistan) and that all of them will be
replaced". 
 
   The union also smoothed the reaction from the workers who opposed the
first firing of 7 workers and told the workers to pick up their
compensation checks for being fired, then they can organize an action
against the employer.  Faruk Danaci who says they acted in accordance with
what the union told them continues, 'because of our ignorance on
unionization we did not know that once we receive the compensation,
legally we can not resist the lay offs'.  Mehmet Senol who says that they
were fooled by the union and that they have been trying to negotiate with
the Pioneer Seed employers for a while but they been threatened by the
employer with calling the gendarmerie and having them arrested for
criminal political activities. 
 
   Today, instead of the fired workers, the contracting firms temporary
workers are doing the jobs in Pioneer Seed.  This way, legally, the
employer will not have to hire back the fired workers after 6 months if it
is to hire any help
                                                                     
HaberdeYorumda GERCEK July 30 1994.