Workers have been fighting this denial of their right to organise through daily demonstrations outside the DESA factory in the Düzce Industrial Zone, facing constant repression and arrest from the local gendarmes. Emine Arslan, a union leader from another DESA factory in İstanbul(Sefaköy), was offered a bribe to drop her case against DESA and to end the demonstrations outside the factory. When she refused her family was threatened. Hours later her 11 year old daughter narrowly escaped an attempted kidnap by men on a motorbike.
It’s clear that very little of the huge sums of money customers are paying for the luxury items produced at DESA go to workers. All earn poverty wages, work long hours, and suffer from a variety of health complaints linked to poor health and safety conditions. They complain that there are not enough toilets for all the workers and those that exist are filthy. The only drinking water is from a hose on the toilet floor. The food provided from the factory is poor quality, and without the facilities for nursing or minding children many have to give up their work once they become mothers.
Hear more about working conditions at DESA
DESA produces goods for lots of European and North American brands. Most have been contacted by the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Federation (ITGLWF) and/or the Clean Clothes Campaign over recent months. None have taken the action needed to ensure DESA workers get the rights to which all workers are entitled.
Take action now! Urge these luxury brands to uphold DESA workers right to organise
