Günsan Worker Özkan Bulkurcuoğlu, DİSK-BMİS member (July 31, 2019) Özkan Bulkurcuoğlu: 36 years old, father of two. Electronics technician. He worked at the Quality Department of Günsan’s workplace bought by Schneider Electrics company for 6,5 years and was dismissed because he lead unionisation efforts. Still a member of the same union, he now works at another workplace where the union is organised. The new management told us “We bought this [the firm] but there will certainly be no dismissals.” Schneider arrived but only the sign changed. They did not even change their name. It remained Günsan. Only our employer changed. But we saw no improvements in social rights, there was no mention of premiums. On the contrary, with the previous owner, we had 2 leave days per month when we got sick and they did not cut our salary for using them. When Schneider arrived, they told us “when you get sick and get a doctor’s note, we won’t cover you and will cut [your leave from] your salary.” Inspections became more frequent. Some departments have been very warm, the Injection Department... They requested a cooling mechanism, but their demands were not met. It was the same method with salaries: those with acquaintances in the company got better raises etc. That is why workers decided to unionise. With great difficulty, we managed to convince our friends to join the Union and conducted our activities in secret. On the day we were about to apply for the competency certificate, I was somewhere else due to an order and received an urgent call from my manager, calling me to the factory. I was told to go to the Human Resources Department. When I went there, I found out that six people, including me, who had been leading the unionisation efforts, had been dismissed. We were dismissed without severance pay on grounds of displaying “discomfort in the workplace, disruption the workplace” as per Article 26(2) of the Labour Law. Without allowing us to say goodbye to our friends, they brought two of our friends to the changing room and then escorted them outside the factory with the help of security guards. Then, we consulted each other, ran inside and informed our friends about the developments. Suddenly, the machines were shut down. Then, people gathered. Slogans were chanted. That night, we did not leave the factory until midnight. Meanwhile, they tried to persuade us by saying: “sign these papers and leave.” Union police arrived and said, “you are engaging in an unlawful protest, you can be union members but your union does not have the competency 82 C O L L E C T I V E R I G H T S O F W O R K E R S U N D E R T U R K E Y ’ S C O N T I N U O U S S TAT E O F E M E R G E N C Y T R A D E U N I O N R I G H T S I N E U R O P E A N A N D E U R O P E A N - A F F I L I AT E D E N T E R P R I S E S certificate, you have to comply with the employer here, you cannot walk off your jobs.” We ended the protest at midnight. The next morning, when we went to work, union managers also joined us and our 40-day protest begun. In cold weather, we put up fire and resisted in front of the workplace. Nobody interfered while we waited. This was during the State of Emergency period but since we only occasionally shouted slogans, and were not inside the factory but on the sidewalk in front of the factory, nobody interfered. Meanwhile, there were no new dismissals, but we heard that persuasion rooms were set up inside the workplace. They especially tried to persuade female workers to share their e-government passwords.99 Those inside were told to stop organising and that the Union works together with a terrorist organisation. Therefore, our friends with strong nationalist sentiments were being told: “you should leave these PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] members, those are all terrorists.” That is why, an investigation was launched against a manager, but then it was dropped. Some workers were affected by the propaganda. During these events, not a single representative came to see us. Stefanus Audrey, the French CEO of the company, parked his car inside, not even saying hello while passing us, even though he knew we were dismissed unfairly, without justification and compensation. In the end, we had to stop our protest due to our difficulties in making a living for ourselves. With the help of the Union, I started to work in another workplace where this Union is organised. Most of the others resigned from the Union out of fear. Around 30 of them were dismissed at some point, one way or another. We filed lawsuits to claim our severance pays and for reinstatement. The employer filed another lawsuit for disturbing peace at the workplace. But they could not find anyone who would testify against us. The proceedings were held before the 9th Labour Court. The Court ruled on our reinstatement but did not order for a union compensation. Their reasoning was “they fired you, but why did they not fire more workers? Why did they stop?” Both sides went to the regional court. One year later, their cases were rejected. And our request to be reinstated to our jobs and union compensation were accepted. Approximately one month ago, we received our compensations. 99 Current practice requires workers to use their e-government passwords, which are for personal use only, to join a union. There are frequent cases of workers, who were forced to share these secret passwords, to check their [union] status in the system. INTERVIEW SUMMARIES 83