One hundred fifteen workers who were members of the Petrol-Is union have been dismissed from a factory after forming a union at the workplace. The workers were all employees of Kosan Kozmetik Pazarlama ve Ticaret AS, the Turkish subsidiary of French cosmetics company Yves Rocher, and were fired after their union, which they had been attempting to formalise for some time, finally received official recognition and registration on 3 April. The company told the workers that they had been fired for “joining an illegal demonstration” and have been blacklisted from finding jobs anywhere in the area.
Petrol-Is leadership stated that once their union had reached majority status within the factory and registered with the relevant authorities, they had attempted to build a constructive social dialogue and approached the company with an offer to discuss collective bargaining. The company rejected the offer and challenged the union certificate issued by the Ministry of Labour in court, using unfounded arguments and loopholes in the national legislation to hinder collective bargaining. The company is refusing to reinstate the workers and is also refusing to enter into dialogue with Petrol-Is.