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23 September, 2009Sinter Metal striker Lale Balta hopes their eventual victory will inspire workers throughout Turkey to stand up and defend their right to join a union.
Text / Kristyne Peter
Photo / Elif Sinirlioglu
Lale Balta joined the union, Birlesik Metal-Is, on December 19, 2008. Three days later, she was fired.
A CNC operator at Sinter Metal Imalat San. As, Lale, aged 23, is one of 350 workers fighting for the right to belong to a union and at the centre of the biggest struggle in Turkey's massive Dudulu Organized Industrial Zone in the last 20 years.
In October 2008, Birlesik Metal-Is began an underground organizing drive inside the auto components manufacturing plant. "It was a very secret process because it was obvious that if the employer would learn of this he would fire the union members," explains Lale. "On December 19 the employer learnt of the union activity and fired our 38 friends and then almost all of the workers went to the notary to be a union member in reaction to the dismissals," Lale says, pointing out that this is how she entered the trade union movement.
On December 22, the company fired another 312 workers, including Lale. The company claimed the firings were due to the global financial crisis, however almost all of those dismissed were trade union members. Weeks later the Labour Ministry in Turkey issued a report upholding the union's assertion that the reason for the dismissal of the 350 workers was not the economic crisis as the employer attempted to claim, but rather their trade union membership.
Still, workers remain at the company gates defending their right to union representation and demanding their immediate reinstatement. "We are fighting for our honour and for the future of our children," Lale says. "This resistance became an issue of honour for everybody who is still in front of the factory. We want to leave a decent life to the generation which will come after us." However the nine month strike is taking its toll.
"Some people have lost their wives, because their wives didn't understand the importance of our struggle and left them. Some people's family relations went bad, some people could not go to the doctor to treat their children who were ill," Lale says adding she too feels pressure from her family to give up the struggle.
In Turkey, workers are regularly dismissed for their trade union activities on a massive scale and it is one of the biggest challenges trade unionists face today. Often, the fate of the dismissed workers remains in the hands of the courts who repeatedly delay rulings at the pressure of the company or government. "Being a union member is very difficult because the employers are very insatiable. Turkey is not a democratic and social state. The laws are not in favour of the workers, and even these bad laws are not implemented so workers are always unjustly treated."
Inside and outside of the country, the Sinter Metal struggle has come to symbolize the enormous challenges Turkish workers face when trying to form a union. "All workers are looking to us," Lale says, "because if we win, it will be hope for them also. Every day workers in Dudulu Organized Industrial Zone come to us and ask questions on the situation and they say that they are with us." She hopes that their eventual victory will empower other workers to resist repressive anti-union behaviour at other companies and inspire more workers to fight for the right to be in a union. "We chose resistance in a crisis atmosphere. All workers are experiencing similar problems in their work but they don't have the courage to resist against it because they are afraid of losing their jobs. Our glory will give them the courage and hope to struggle against employers who try to use the crisis as an opportunity."
Sinter Metal workers are calling on the international labour movement to lend solidarity and tell the world about their struggle. They are also asking unions to put pressure on clients of Sinter Metal, such as Copeland and Getrag. "By this way," Lale emphasizes," we can show that workers are a class in the world and how powerful we are when we are organized."
The IMF and the European Metalworkers' Federation are jointly campaigning in support of Sinter Metal workers demanding their reinstatement.
For more information go to: www.imfmetal.org/sintermetal