Workers at Turkish Levi’s Supplier Fight for Union Choice

Jasmin Malik Chua
·5 min read

For the past two weeks, some 470 employees at Özak Tekstil, one of Turkey’s largest apparel manufacturers, have been striking outside their factory in Urfa, the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. Chief among their demands: the right to choose their own union.

It was roughly two months ago when employees at the Levi Strauss & Co. supplier began withdrawing from the factory-approved union, Öz İplik-İş, and signing up with Birtek-Sen, another organization representing textile, weaving and leather workers. The former, defectors say, is a “yellow” union that has failed to address their complaints, which include rampant harassment and violence directed at women. After making the switch, however, many say that they have faced threats and intimidation by management to resign from Birtek-Sen.

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“Ulfa is a very conservative city,” Özlem Temena, a representative from Birtek-Sen, told Sourcing Journal. “Özak managers told one woman that if she stayed at Birtek-Sen, they would tell her family that she has a boyfriend. This is very dangerous, especially in Ulfa, where the murder rate of women [in so-called ‘honor killings’] is so high.”

Protesting has been difficult, workers say. Law enforcement officers, known as the gendarmerie, have erected barricades outside the factory that prevent strikers from using the restroom or visiting a nearby mosque for prayers. “We are literally trapped here,” one worker said. “We are being subjected to collective torture.” Security forces, demonstrators say, have also attacked them with water cannons, pepper spray, riot shields and batons. Since the strikes began on Nov. 27, 20 people, many of them members of Birtek-Sen, have been arrested, Temena said. Another 40 have lost their jobs.

“The rightful actions of Özak workers have been unlawfully prevented for days,” Birtek-Sen wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday. “End this unlawfulness and arbitrariness, release the workers!”

According to Turkey’s constitution, workers have the right to form unions “without obtaining permission” and “to possess the right to become a member of a union and to freely withdraw from membership.”

Özak Tekstil did not respond to an email seeking comment. While Öz İplik-İş did not immediately reply to a request for information, a representative for the IndustriALL Global Union affiliate refuted Birtek-Sen’s allegations following the article’s publication.

“It is absolutely unacceptable for this union [to attack] our union, targeting and pushing brands to [cut] commercial relations with Özak Tekstil, which is one of the very few workplaces in Turkey where we were able to successfully organize which recognizes workers’ rights and has signed successful collective bargaining agreements with high gains for three periods after a process that progresses with devotion and respect,” said Fulya Pinar Özcan, who noted that Birtek-Sen does not have the sufficient majority to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement.

Workers say they will stop protesting if three of their demands are met: That their sacked colleagues are reinstated, that they’re able to freely participate in Birtek-Sen, and that Levi’s, the factory’s sole buyer, listen “not to the factory, but to workers’ voices,” Temena said.

“For days we have been trying to make our voices heard by Levi’s,” one protestor said. “But they are not listening to us. We are reaching out to the whole world from here. Please spread, hear our voices. Please do something.”

Levi’s said that it takes any allegations of efforts to curtail freedom of association “extremely seriously.” “We have a longstanding commitment to supporting safe, productive workplaces for workers,” a spokesperson told Sourcing Journal. “We are looking into the issue on the ground and will conduct a thorough investigation.”

In its terms of agreement, Levi’s writes that it respects workers’ rights to form and join organizations of their choice and to bargain collectively. It also expects its suppliers to respect the right to free association and the right to organize and bargain collectively without unlawful interference.

Temena said that workers want Özak Tekstil, which employs 770 people, to continue negotiations with their elected union, which is to say, Birtek-Sen. “The boss should not put pressure on us for the freedom to choose a union,” she quoted them as saying. “End the boss’s pressure inside the factory.”

But Özcan said that it was actually Birtek-Sen that threatened employees, forcing them to stop work and “causing chaos.” She said that Öz İplik-İş has spoken to Özak Tekstil to demand that it take precautions to ensure the safety of both its members and non-union workers.

“The fact that Birtek-Sen directs the workers to such a provocation victimizes the employees and employers of the textile sector, which is already disintegrating and being disrupted, and unfortunately, by trying to create a perception on the brands, it also affects the image of our country toward the brands,” she said.

Özcan said that it is “absolutely not acceptable” to “attack” Özak Tekstil and say that it doesn‘t respect freedom of association when it is among the 2 percent of Turkey’s garment industry that has signed a collective bargaining agreement.

“It is absolutely unacceptable to try to attach a yellow union label to our union that has been carrying out an honorable labor struggle as a member of the Industriall Global Union and Industriall European Union almost since its establishment,” she added. “This union has already overstepped its bounds and is in a position where it must be stopped. The only party that should be condemned is Birtek-sen, which does not respect the rights of workers who chose our union with their free will.”

Writing on X, Labour Party minister Sevda Karaca expressed her solidarity with strikers.

“The anti-labor, misogynist, anti-worker government laid all the means of the state at the feet of the Özak boss,” she said. “Özak workers did not give up, did not break their unity, and defended their will. If Özak Textile workers win, the whole working class wins.”