Our demands

1 - Unconditional reinstatement of all workers members of our union who were dismissed as of November 27, 2023 and who want to return to work.

2- One of our important demands was to be paid the wages of the dismissed workers for the days they were out of work until the date they were reinstated. However, as the workers' side, we are ready to make sacrifices and show flexibility on this issue in order to serve the solution. Due to economic difficulties and desperation, 96% of the 395 dismissed workers had to agree to the terms proposed by the boss at the mediator and received their severance and notice pay. However, 24 workers have still not been paid their severance and notice pay.

Our demand is as follows:

1- if all the dismissed workers who have requested reinstatement (around 165) are reinstated by March 1 at the latest, they should be paid only one month's wages for the three months they have been out of work. If reinstatement takes place after March 1, the period beyond March 1 should be added to one month's wages.

2- The 24 workers who have not yet received compensation should be paid for the entire period of unpaid time.

3- Workers should be assured that their right to choose a union will be recognized and that they will not be pressured for this reason in the future.

4- Özak Tekstil management must give a written commitment that includes the above three points. In addition to the three items above, the commitment letter should include the following assurance:

-in the event of a workers' complaint about rights violations in the workplace, the union to which the worker or workers with the complaint belong will be taken into account by the employer or the employer's representatives to solve the problem.

-In addition, the union of which the workers are members must have the right to meet with the employer or employer representatives in line with the demands of the workers on working conditions, wage arrangements, etc. in the workplace.

-the right to meet with their own members within the workplace should be recognized.

Important note:

Özak Tekstil's new trick is a name change

The Özak boss is using a new trick to get rid of the name Özak Tekstil, which has been tarnished by rights violations and worker hostility, to trick brands into reordering.

Özak Tekstil in Şanlıurfa is constantly hiring new workers even though the Levi's brand has decided to cut its orders.

Also two days ago, a written announcement was posted in the workplace announcing the transfer of Özak Tekstil to Kubrateks.

Kübrateks was already owned by Özak Holding. Now Özak is transferring its factories to Kübrateks, which is also owned by Özak. The owners are the same, they are just changing the name.

The Özak Tekstil management wants to cover up the violations of rights, the massacre of workers for using their right to choose a union, and their union hostility in this way. They want to improve the image of the factory and get orders from international brands in this way. However, this is a way to deceive both workers and brands.

We want your brand to act carefully and responsibly in this issue. If Özak Tekstil wants to improve its image and continue production by receiving orders from these brands, the only right way to do this is to accept our demands, immediately reinstate the dismissed workers and recognize their right to choose a union.

Besides, the Özak boss indirectly says that he can only hire the dismissed workers part by part. He justifies this by saying that there will be no orders and that there will be over-employment, and that he will be able to hire them little by little as orders and production increase.

This is unacceptable because;

1- The intention here is to bring in workers in small minorities, to neutralize their organization and to intimidate them by putting pressure on them. It is not possible for us to accept this when there have been dozens of similar examples in this workplace.

2- The justification of the need for employment is a complete lie! Because after the workers went on strike on November 27, many new workers were hired at the workplace. And the hiring is still ongoing. If the employer was honest and sincere about this issue, they would not have hired new workers when there were workers who were fired and have been unemployed and victimized for three months. We have concrete documents and information that new workers are still being hired. We are sending examples of documents showing that workers were hired through İşKur and through announcements as an annex to this e-mail.

The aim of the boss here is to punish the majority of BİRTEK-SEN union members by not hiring them and to completely eliminate BİRTEK-SEN members in the workplace.

395 BİRTEK-SEN members were dismissed. And since the list of names of these workers has been sent to other factories and there is a blacklist practice among the bosses, none of them can find a job in Şanlıurfa Organized Industrial Zone. In other words, Özak Tekstil not only dismissed workers who used their right to choose a union, but also usurped their right to work and continue their lives in other factories.

Note 2: We are enclosing the text of the press statement we made on February 13th, in which we summarized the process.

Sincerely yours,

Mehmet Türkmen

BİRTEK-SEN General President

WE ENDED THE RESISTANCE AT OZAK TEXTILE