In Turkey joining a union is a freedom protected by the constitution.  Or, that is the way it seems.

Workers being forced to resign from their union are confused whether the constitution has been suspended or is in effect.

In Ankara, the capital, the Bozankaya business group which operates two plants refuse to heed the constitutional rights of the workers to join unions freely.

The workers belong to Birleşik Metal İş Union under the Progressive Labor Union Confederation-DİSK.

In a statement from the union the issue of forceful resignation of workers from the plant was publicized.

The workers, according to the statement, are being forced by the managers and the team leads to resign and prove it by showing the resignation notification e-mail from the union to the management. The workers are forced to give their passwords to the management granting access to their government ID site. This gives access to the plant owners who could sign in as the workers to resign from the union.  Needless to say this is an illegal practice also forced upon the workers.

The bosses threaten the workers with losing their jobs if they do not reject the union they already are a member of.  265 workers have already resigned from the union and 45 workers who refuse to resign have been fired.

The managers call each worker individually to management to talk to them alone, trying to convince them to reject their union membership.  If the worker refuses, the managers could call in the police to intimidate and forcefully remove those who do not cooperate. The police have already established a station inside the plant ready to show up at a moment’s notice when the bosses call.

Union has escalated the struggle at the plant and promises to defend the rights of the workers against de-unionization.

Sendika.Org News