Turkey’s flagship delivery company, Yemeksepeti (Turkish for “Food Basket”), did all it could in 2021 to prevent its workers from joining a union.
First, Yemeksepeti managers changed their drivers’ job title to office workers, thereby removing them from the list of workers who have the right to access an online, state-run system where they can join a trade union. It also prevented them from getting early access to vaccines because while transport workers were on the priority list, office workers weren’t.
When the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Turkey and drivers for Banabi, the grocery branch of Yemeksepeti, realised they could not get priority access, they launched a campaign demanding their rights.
The company forgot, however, to change the occupational status of Banabi drivers in three provinces, Yalova, Düzce and Manisa. Workers in these provinces realised they were able to sign up for vaccines, while their colleagues elsewhere could not. This made national news in June 2021, raising the profile of the drivers’ struggle to unionise.
In July, Yemeksepeti CEO Nevzat Aydın filed objections in court to block the Banabi workers’ unionisation efforts.
They continued to organise, nonetheless. Eventually, a majority of Yemeksepeti workers became members of the All Transport Workers Union (TÜMTİS). The Ministry of Labour issued TÜMTİS a certificate of authorisation for collective bargaining. This time, the company filed a lawsuit in court in objection to the authorisation, starting a lengthy judicial process.
In September, some of the country’s largest trade unions, trade associations and consumer unions declared a boycott of the company.
Amid mounting pressure, Aydın resigned from his position at the beginning of November. But the company continued to obstruct union organising while also putting huge pressure on employees until they resign and then replacing them with contract labour.
