an agreement. Our Union is still organised/present at this workplace. With the new conditions created by a new partnership between Trelleborg (the owner of Vibracoustic, which produces anti-vibration products) and the German company Freudenberg, we contacted the German employer in coordination with Business Councils and German unions. Even though the local employer had a negative approach at first, we established a social dialogue mechanism. This made it possible to sign a collective agreement.104 I should emphasise that such results are a consequence of European Business Councils’ power. For example, if there was a Business Council involved in the case of Flormar, the situation might have been different. I should say that companies from Germany seem to be more open to unionisation. From our perspective, the example that portrays the difference between domestic and international companies may be Ak-Kim. Similar to the Flormar case, our unionisation efforts at this workplace were hindered through dismissals. Similar to the Flormar case, we held a protest in front of the workplace for a year.105 But unlike Flormar, we were unable to gain strong, widespread public support. Ak-Kim was producing for European companies, such as the German company Henkel. But it was a domestic investment enterprise. Through our colleagues at German unions, we called upon Henkel to put pressure on the company they are purchasing products from, but we did not get any response from them.106 (In its letter addressed to Henkel, the [German] Union made a reference to the documents entitled “Henkel Group’s Social Standards.”107 In the document, it is stated that “Henkel suppliers and service providers are evaluated with respect to their abilities to meet Henkel’s Corporate Standards and ethical expectations, which includes striving for internationally accepted labour standards”). 104 https://www.petrol-is.org.tr/haber/yeni-orgutlendigimiz-vibracoustic-isyerinde-tis-muzakereleri-basladi-10955 105 Petrol-İş’s statement on the issue: https://petrol-is.org.tr/haber/akkime-sendika-girecek-11211 and the news on the end of the protest held in front of the workplace: https://www.evrensel.net/haber/348331/akkim-iscileri-cadir-direnisinisonlandirdi 106 Here, we would like to add that Ak-Kim is a highly active company in the European market and established a company to market the chemicals it produces in Germany. Ak-Kim signed the Global Compact in 2007 (https://www.akkim.com.tr/tr/surdurulebilirlik/kuresel-ilkeler-taahhudumuz/kuresel-ilkeler-taahhudumuz/i-584) and the company even submits regular reports on its activities within this framework. Moreover, it might be interesting to know that the president of its umbrella company Akkök Holding is also the President of the Executive Board of the Global Compact We can give Unilever, a company with Dutch roots, as an example of positive relationships built between European investment companies and unions. For decades, Petrol-İş has signed collective agreements with the employer Unilever San. ve Tic. A.Ş. Recently, when the company wanted to move its factory in Dilovası, İzmit to Konya, a positive dialogue was established with the company and eventually a protocol was signed. Through this protocol, which was signed on June 19, 2014, union members were reallocated to Konya without losing their rights and it was decided that the company would support a housing cooperative to ensure workers’ accommodation. Of course, the global union IndustriAll, which we are connected to, makes important contributions throughout all these efforts.108 Saica Pack Worker, Türk-İş affiliated Selüloz-İş Union member Aytaç Kaya and Selüloz-İş Union Specialist Aykut Güner (7.08.2019) Aytaç Kaya: 41 years old. After working at several enterprises for 21 years, he started to work at the Norm Ambalaj factory in 2017. After a while, the factory was bought by Saica Pack. Kaya is a worker who lead unionisation efforts here. Aykut Güner: has been working as a specialist at the Selüloz-İş Union since February 2016. He is actively involved in Union publications, in collective bargaining and organisation efforts. Aytaç Kaya: I realized that there were a lot of problems when I joined the factory. You go to the restroom; you do not have soap or napkins. You leave the restroom with wet hands and touch bread baskets in the cafeteria. This is an unpleasant situation. In the meantime, work health and safety… I leave safety aside, there was no work health. We definitely did not have work safety. For example, when we requested work shoes, they said: “it will arrive next month, wait for three months to pass and it will arrive or not this year, you should wait for next year and manage until then” etc. There were times we worked in our everyday clothes. In the meantime, we worked an extra half hour every day. Look, I am not talking about (legal) overtime, Turkey. (https://www.globalcompactturkiye.org/yonetim-kurulu/) 108 IndustriAll has a number of Global Framework Agreements with many multinational companies in the sector. (http:// 107 https://www.henkel.com/blob/20078/e572da939631c61e9e35eafe9dda80e2/data/social-standards.pdf 96 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 www.IndustriAll-union.org/global-framework-agreements) INTERVIEW SUMMARIES 97