A mass protest on March 16th in front of Döhler’s Turkish head office brought together trade unionists and their supporters who called on German-based ingredients giant Döhler to respect trade union rights in Turkey.
Five years ago, in March 2016, Turkey’s Labour Ministry granted IUF-affiliated Tekgıda-İş collective bargaining status at Döhler Turkey. Since then, Döhler Group management in Turkey has engaged in a concerted effort to deny workers their trade union rights. It has:
- unfairly dismissed workers for union activity
- illegally interrogated workers for their e-state details to check their union status and pressured them to resign their union membership; those who have refused to disclose their e-state details have been sacked
- forced workers, mostly union members, to resign and be re-employed by a subcontractor in an attempt to destroy the union
- failed to collectively bargain with the workers’ formally recognized union, Tekgıda-İş
IUF General Secretary Sue Longley said, “Döhler Group must respect its international human rights obligations, remedy the rights violations through discussions with Tekgıda-İş and IUF, and enter into good faith negotiations with Tekgıda-İş, with whom the Döhler Group has a legally mandated collective bargaining relationship.”
