We contacted the employer. We even contacted the Spanish union organised at Saica’s workplace in Spain through our global union. We sent them e-mails and were in contract through IndustriAll. The employer said, “As is evident in the factory in Eskişehir and all other factories in Europe, we are definitely not against unions.” They said that problems arose as a result of the agreement they made with the previous employer and added that they lost their most fundamental activity area, e.g. they produce pizza boxes and export them to the UK. The general director said that they disputed the competence to delay the process because they wanted recuperate economically. The process of union competency and the workers’ reinstatement lawsuits are still ongoing. In the meantime, we are trying to get the assistance from the international union in order to exert pressure on them. For example, two weeks ago, the representatives of the union in Spain and Saica’s headquarter employer held a meeting in Spain. They also tried to convey what has happened using our words. As far as we were informed by managers in Turkey, dismissals were purely due to economic reason; however, we doubt that this is the case. Even if there are economic reasons, we know based on which criteria our friends were dismissed, based on what these 6 friends were selected, that 4-5 of these friends were dismissed after they lead unionisation efforts. We are questioning whether all of this is coincidence. Currently, our contact with the employer continue at all levels. The Sakarya 3rd Organised Industrial Zone is a zone where there are no unions and unionisation efforts at all. Across of us, there is a workplace that is part of the textile industry: Seher Tekstil. Back in the day, they had a unionisation process, but 140 workers were dismissed at once and this ended the entire process. This is not a fertile ground in that sense. Today, this [our] unionisation and resistance experience is also an important example for other workplaces. 100 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