Sevda Toprak (22), who worked at the Diam Vitrin factory for five years explained why she wanted to join the union: “Those in charge of us and employers constantly insulted us when we were working. They did not treat us like humans. In addition to not receiving raises and having low wages, we worked overtime. Even though I was an employee for 5 years, I was still paid minimum wage. That is why we believe that everybody here, from 7 to 70, should enjoy the same rights and we collectively decided to join the union to have job security.”53 Roca TR. Banyo:54 Background Information A long-established Spanish company, Roca produces bathroom products. Internationally, it employs a total of 22,000 workers at 78 production centres. No agreements or codes of ethics etc. by the company have been found. Background Information: A long-established Spanish company, Roca produces bathroom products. Internationally, it employs a total of 22,000 workers at 78 production centres. No agreements or codes of ethics etc. by the company have been found. Workers say that their plant was bought by the Spain-based ROCA group in 2016, adding that, “When Spanish executives came to visit our factory, they asked us to wait for six months. They told us that they were going to remedy the material and immaterial deficiencies. Even though one year has passed since their visit, our situation has not improved.”55 After the union acquired a majority of membership of workers, it applied to the Ministry of Labour and received the necessary certificate. The employer objected to this competence and dismissed some of the workers leading the unionisation efforts. The employer, who turned down the union’s request to initiate dialogue, contacted rival union Çelik-İş and forced workers to join the latter. According to BMIS’s statement, a female worker was hospitalised Source: Birleşik Metal-İş because of the pressure put on workers.56 In the end, the Çelik-İş received the competency certificate and BMIS’s attempts to organise at the factory were unsuccessful. Sendikası - [BMİS Roca TR protest] Günsan:57 Background Information Schneider Electric SE, the owner of Günsan Electric since 2014 is a global company that joined the Global Compact in 2003.58 The company’s CEO Jean Pascal-Tricoire is currently a member of the Executive Board of Global Compact. In the ethical conduct document of the company entitled “Principles of Responsibility” the company states that “We respect the right of workers to form and join representation groups and unions; Provide workers the necessary conditions to perform these representation activities; do not prevent representation activities.”59 In the company document entitled “Human Rights Global Policy” the company again states that it respects its employees’ rights to the freedom of association and collective bargaining.60 56 https://www.birlesikmetalis.org/index.php/tr/guncel/basin-aciklamasi/730-ispanyol-roca-sirketi-suc-islemeye-devamediyor 57 The information presented here was compiled from the communications of Birleşik Metal-İş Union’s International Relations Services in addition to the cited references. 53 https://www.evrensel.net/haber/324413/diam-iscileri-ise-donunceye-kadar-mucadeleye-devam 58 https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/participants/8251-Schneider-Electric-SE 54 The information presented here was compiled from the communications of Birleşik Metal-İş Union’s International Relations Services in addition to the cited references. 59 https://www.se.com/tr/tr/download/document/principles_of_responsibility/ 55 https://www.evrensel.net/haber/305147/nsk-iscileri-birligimizi-bozmayacagiz 60 https://www.se.com/tr/tr/download/document/Human_Rights_Policy/ 56 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 E X A M P L E S O F C O L L E C T I V E L A B O U R R I G H T S V I O L AT I O N S I N E U R O P E A N I N V E S T M E N T E N T E R P R I S E S 57