The German company Döhler, which produces food additives, committed a brazen crime against unionised workers at its Turkish subsidiary in Karaman. 32 workers there had already been dismissed in 2015 for unionising and bargaining as approved by the Ministry of Labour, subsequently won their reinstatement case and compensation, but were still not employed.
It was until five years later, last December, that the contract process restarted, but Döhler again ignored the court decision and pressured the workers to leave the union. The workers began denouncing the conditions and reported, among other things, the construction of a barbed wire fence around the factory. Now, preparations have recently been made to relocate workers to the Kocaeli factory, and nine workers protesting against this were promptly dismissed. The employer attacked the protest at the factory gates by driving a truck at the workers, injuring one.
What is the use of the courts if the companies can flout the rulings with impunity and then attack the workers? With all the yammering about the conditions in Turkey, German imperialism itself proves time and again how much it is responsible for them.
Meanwhile, at a construction site in Denizli in the west of the country, electricity workers climbed onto the roof of a large construction site. They protested against the refusal to pay the 2-month wages of 19 workers. They showed videos they had made themselves and reported in speeches that some of them no longer have any money at all.
