Union Busting in Turkey

In April 2008, hundreds of workers at Turkish leather manufacturer, DESA, decided to join Deri Is, the Turkish leather workers union. Between April and July 44 workers were dismissed and a further 55 were forced to resign from the union.

The company refused to reinstate these workers, despite rulings by both the labour court and supreme court which stated they had been dismissed illegally. The buyers from the factory, including Prada, Mulberry, Debenhams and M&S refused to speak to the union or to attend a joint meeting to negotiate improvements.

Following a year long international campaign a "memorandum of understanding" was signed which should have formed the basis for negotiations between the factory and the union. DESA and its buyers used the agreement to stop the international campaign but made no steps to actually implement the improvements promised.