Transportation Industry DHL Express Background Information DHL International GmbH is a US-based German company that carries out Deutsche Post DHL’s international shipping and parcel delivery services. It works in over 220 countries and regions with 380,000 employees. The DHL has a protocol signed with global unions ITF and UNI61 DHL also has a Code of Conduct document.62 In the document, the company states that its employees are free to join or that they cannot be forced to join a union. It states that the right to collective bargaining shall be respected. Türk-İş affiliated All Transport Workers’ Union (Tümtis) organised at DHL with the support of global solidarity campaigns in 2014.63 In 2017, Tümtis started unionisation efforts at DHL’s logistics company DHL Express. Once it achieved the necessary majority membership in February 2017, it received its certificate of competency from the Ministry of Labour. On March 8, 2017, without providing Source: TÜMTİS - [2017 61 The said joint protocol was signed between two global unions and the company with the facilitation of the German National Contact Point established by the German state in July 2016 and extended until December 2019 on September 21, 2017. A platform that is based on the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises has been established. (https://www.itfglobal. org/en/news/joint-statement-dp-dhl-itf-and-uni-global-union-agree-continuous-dialogue-until-december-2019) (Accessed on 26.08.2019) 62 https://www.dpdhl.com/content/dam/dpdhl/en/media-center/responsibility/dpdhl-code-of-conduct.pdf (erişim: 26.08.2019) 63 For a detailed account of the unionisation process see: Birelma, Alpkan. “When local class unionism meets international solidarity: A case of union revitalisation in Turkey.” Global Labour Source: TÜMTİS - [2017 Journal (2018). - TÜMTİS DHL protests] - TÜMTİS DHL protests] any evidence or providing an explanation, the employer filed an objection against the Union’s competence and requested a court investigation into whether the workers’ memberships were real. The case was part of a strategy to delay the determination of the Union’s competence and in the meantime, the company engaged in activities aimed at suppressing unionisation efforts, including increasing pressure on workers, targeting and dismissing some workers, intimidation and discrimination, and refusing their demands. Nine workers, who had been leading the unionisation efforts, were dismissed. On July 17, 2017, workers held a sit-in in front of the company’s headquarters in Yenibosna, Istanbul. Other unions and representatives from the international federation of the relevant sector, International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), supported the protest. It was underlined that DHL Express did not adhere to the protocol signed between DHL Express and the global unions ITF and UNI, and that it applied double standards.64 64 The joint protocol in question was signed by these two global unions in July 2016 with the mediation of the German National Contact Point (NCP) and extended by the parties until December 2019 on September 21, 2017. It has provided a platform that aims to create social dialogue for better working life and follows the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprise. (https://www.itfglobal.org/en/news/joint-statement-dp-dhl-itf-and-uni-global-union-agree-continuous-dialogue-until-december-2019) 60 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 61