Agreement reached with Mahle on Turkey operations

TURKEY/GERMANY: The German automotive supplier Mahle agreed on a declaration for its plants in Izmir and Koyna in Turkey on April 16, ensuring freedom of association for its workers.

The declaration includes the following points:

• Mahle Mopesan respects the International Labour Organization's conventions on freedom of association and acts accordingly.
• The right of freedom of association will be accepted, it means each employee has the right to choose the union of his or her choice.
• The Mahle Mopisan management behave neutrally towards unions.
• If one union gets some rights during the registration process the other unions get the same rights.
• No employee will be disadvantaged or preferred because of membership in any union.
• Mahle Stuttgart has agreed to install a "hotline" and enable each employee the right to make a complaint via this hotline.
• The International Metalworkers' Federation supports these measures.
• This document will be submitted for all employees' attention.

This agreement will ensure that in the future no worker will be negatively affected by management when organizing a democratic union at the plants. The agreement came in response to past cases of dismissals at the plant that were, according to Birlesik Metal Is, a turkish affiliate of the IMF, in connection to the organizing of workers.

In an addition, a verbal declaration was made by management that the dismissals that Birlesik is concerned about will be verified by management in Germany and if it is shown that these dismissals are in response to union organizing the management will not allow the dismissals to stand.

In the future all dismissals which occur due to the economic situation can only come into effect with approval from the Mahle management in Stuttgart after consultation with the Mahle Works Council in Stuttgart.

IMF, Mahle Works Council and Mahle Management Stuttgart signed this agreement to ensure basic workers' rights in all Mahle plants in Turkey.

"This agreement demonstrates the value of working together in solidarity at the international level to defend workers' rights," stated Helmut Lense, IMF Director of the Automotive Department.