The resistance started by the workers at the Philip Morris Factory in Torbalı district of İzmir due to the dismissal of approximately 120 workers due to their membership to DİSK Gıda-İş and the exclusion of as many workers from the factory is on its 19th day. The resistance continues to grow stronger with national and international solidarity.
The struggle of Philip Morris/Euroserve workers has now gained another dimension. Firstly, after the expulsion and then dismissal of 4 workers due to their membership to the DİSK-affiliated Gıda-İş Union, about 20 workers had to resign from their union membership in the face of the pressure and mobbing practices applied in the factory.
In the face of this pressure and dismissals, the workers organised a big meeting and took new decisions. According to the information we have gathered, these decisions are as follows:
1- We use our constitutional right to become a member of the union of our choice. However; the bosses have fraudulently dismissed our colleagues who have been working here for years and have not even had a single report filed against them, by showing disgraceful reasons just because they are members of the union. We will no longer tolerate the unjust and unlawful dismissal of any of our fellow workers. Otherwise, it will be our turn because we are unionised.
2- We will meet one-to-one with the resigned workers and ensure that they become members of the union again.
3- Membership activities will be accelerated by reaching workers who are not yet members.
4- In case of pressure-mobbing, forced overtime, there will be no overtime.
5- Unjust and unlawful dismissal of one more fellow worker will never be tolerated. In this case, all democratic and legitimate methods of struggle will be used.
The workers state that as a result of the implementation of these decisions, the number of their members increased from around 55 per cent to 70 per cent.
In the face of this situation, the boss dismissed 11 more workers. Reacting to this situation, the workers protested first in the night shift and then in the morning shift. Then mass dismissals began. Over 100 workers were dismissed. Hundreds of them were warned by phone calls and messages from their supervisors not to come to work on the grounds that "production had been stopped in the factory". A significant number of the workers who came to the factory to start work were not allowed in by the security saying "your name is not on the list". Workers inside and outside the factory responded to this situation with resistance.
The toilets of the factory were closed to the workers who resisted inside the factory garden. They were prevented from using electricity and water. Police teams were called to the factory garden and tried to intimidate the workers inside to break the resistance.
In order to cut off the contact between the workers resisting in the factory garden and outside the garden, the factory garden railings were covered with tarpaulins. The height of the railings was doubled in order to prevent unionists from meeting the workers by climbing on the union vehicle from outside the garden. Some entrances were built overnight with metre-high walls. In order to prevent the union vehicle from approaching the outside of the factory garden, channels were illegally opened outside the garden with construction machinery. The factory was virtually turned into a closed prison. Finally, all the workers who resisted inside were dismissed from their jobs and were forced out by police force.
However; in the face of all these practices, the workers did not back down and as of today, the workers have been continuing their resistance for 19 days. Organising mass protest actions and press releases in front of the Torbalı Headquarters, İzmir Compass Building and the headquarters of Philip Morris in İstanbul, the workers are on the one hand trying to make their struggle public across the country and unite their struggle with workers and labourers who are struggling with the same problems. On the other hand, DİSK/Gıda-İş Union Headquarters is in contact with the International Union of Food Workers' Unions and is working in solidarity with the workers of Marlboro Factories in various countries of Europe and the world.
Next week, members of the Presidents' Council of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), together with a large mass of workers, will go to the Torbalı Marlboro Factory to support the workers in resistance. Also on Tuesday 22 October, Philip Morris/Euroserve workers, together with the leaders of DİSK/Gıda-İş Union, will go to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and hold talks with political party groups.
Lastly, the workers, whom we asked for their opinions about the situation, said, "The struggle has just begun. We will get stronger with solidarity and we will win by getting stronger". (EVRENSEL DAILY)
Ceren Sözeri
Yusuf Karadaş
Aras Coşkuntuncel