Public authorities instructed the company Deva to recognise Petrol-Is and begin collective bargaining on 14 October 2014. Instead, the company sacked three more workers for supporting the union. Already in 2010 Deva used a range of union busting tactics to dismantle a 40-year industrial relations system at plants in the Çerkezköy, Kartepe and the Topkapı area of Istanbul. Deva Holdings sacked 74 employees at that stage in 2010 when they refused to replace their collective agreement with individual contracts. Deva then sacked eight more workers on 22 July 2014 for exercising their right to join Petrol-Is. A total of 24 sackings had occurred in this latest union organising process.
Despite the mass sackings and other illegal anti-union pressure, Deva employees managed to organise the required majority to then file for and receive the official “Certificate of Competence” from the Ministry of Labour. Yet, Deva management announced it would never recognise and bargain with any union.
Below are the details regarding these three latest workers to be sacked for supporting a union.
1) Ramazan Atasever: He had one-and-a-half-year seniority. He was told that the reason for his dismissal was his physiological problems.
2) Şenol Aygün: He had eleven years seniority. The apparent reason for his dismissal was that he does not possess a sufficient level of academic qualifications for the technological processes required in his job. However, with eleven years’ service in his position, it is a non-credible excuse for sacking someone for supporting a union.
3) Hasan Yiğit: He had seven years seniority. He was told that he was dismissed because of his earlier records inside the company. This once again sent a message to the workforce that they will be sacked for no valid reason if they support the union.