Workers attacked at Coke factory in Turkey

Issued : Monday 29 August, 2005

Trying to fight falling wage rates, workers distributing Coca-Cola in Turkey have been actively fighting for a union, in the face of aggressive management reprisals.

"Go on working by resigning from the union," said Coca-Cola representatives to a group of union members employed at Trakya Nakliyat ve Ticaret Ltd. Sti, Coca-Cola's distribution plant in Dudullu, Turkey, "otherwise, we, as the Coca-Cola Company, shall let no members of the union work with us."

The next day, they followed through with their threat, firing 50 union members without compensation. All the workers fired were members of the union, DISK/Nakliyat-Is. This mass firing followed at the heels of an earlier firing where 5 union leaders were dismissed, supposedly for their poor work performances.

Five days after the mass firings in Dudullu, 50 more union workers were terminated, but this time at the Yenibosna plant owned by the same owners. As in the case of the Dudullu plant, workers at Yenibosna were pressured by Coca-Cola officials and Trakya Nakliyat managers to resign from the union.

It is apparent that Coca-Cola and their business partners in Turkey are undertaking an anti-union campaign within Coca-Cola's distribution network by seeking to thwart unionizing efforts through the firing of union members, an unlawful violation of international labor standards and of Turkish law that protect the rights of workers to join a union.

On July 20th, in response to the anti-union campaign, workers from the Dudullu plant mobilized a protest against the firings and demanded reinstatement. Over 150 people, consisting of fired workers and their families entered the facility where DISK union officials and Coca-Cola representatives began to negotiate. At the moment that the union felt it was just about to reach an agreement with Coca-Cola, the police raided the plant, violently assaulting workers, their spouses and their children, using tear gas and other methods to disperse the protestors. In the end, many were injured and 92 people were arrested. Though most have been released, Istanbul's Security Administration continues to hold union leaders.

Given that the brutal attack against workers and their families occurred within plant grounds, the union is of the strong opinion that Coca-Cola officials sanctioned the violent police action. This is not the first time that Coca-Cola has been associated with anti-union violence or violations of human and labor rights. Coca-Cola must stop abusing the rights of workers. In the case of Turkey, Coca-Cola and its partners must:

1. Reinstate all terminated workers from Dudullu and Yenibosna with back-pay;
2. Drop all charges against the people that participated in the protest;
3. Stop the anti-union campaign in the plants, and issue to all workers a written statement that no workers will face retaliation for choosing to exercise their legal right to join a trade union; and
4. Recognize the union and commence negotiations toward collective bargaining agreement.

Send your support letters to:
Ed Potter, Director of Global Labor Relations
Coca-Cola Company
P.O. Box 1734
Atlanta, GA 30301

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DISK (The Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey) is a workers' organization established in 1967 with more than 400,000 members. DISK was banned by the Junta Regime after the 1980 military coup in Turkey. In 1992, DISK began operating legally again, growing to become a strong independent organization without ties to business, the government, or political parties.