Strike in SK Daiyang Metal
DİSK/Birleşik Metal İş organized SK Daiyang Metal company in Çorlu in 2010 January. Unfortunately during the negotiations company management didn’t want to sign the collective bargaining agreement. After we took strike decision employer asked for a strike referendum in order to prevent the strike. In the strike referendum, workers decided for a strike by not joining the ballot. In Turkey’s collective bargaining legal procedure, if a strike decision was taken in a workplace, related UNION has to go on strike in 60 days otherwise the strike decision will be invalid. In those 60 days, regardless of all of our efforts company didn’t sign the agreement. And now we are on strike in this company since 15th of November. During the strike, private security of the Free Trade Zone attacked and destroyed the strike tent, company used other workers to run striking workers’ machines, Korean manager tried to use violence against one of the striking workers and they try various intimidation and repression tactics.
SK Daiyang Metal is a joint venture of SK Networks and Daiyang Metal from Korea. Daiyang Metal holds 70 percent shares of SK Daiyang company in Turkey. According to company website, they are a supplier of Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Electrolux, Siemens, Toshiba, Whirlpool, Arcelik, Bosch, Daewoo, Gorenje and Vestel. (http://www.daiyangmetal.com/2010/dy-profile.html ) As you know, three of these companies (Electrolux, Bosch and Siemens) has IFAs with IndustriALL GU. And these IFAs also covers the suppliers.
Some background on the company;
According to information provided by friends in KMWU, Daiyang has a long history of UNION busting. In Korea at 2006, workers in Daiyang Metal Ansan Factory established UNION (KMWU local) but the management never sit in the table with the UNION, branding it as commie. The company didn’t recognise the UNION as a partner of negotiation but hired thugs to repress the UNION’s strike and charged UNION leaders and sued for the compensation of damage. After that they moved the factory to Turkey and another city in Korea (Yesan). According to the company’s website (http://www.daiyangmetal.com/2010/index.html) the factory is still exist in Korea. The company is still listed on KOSDAQ (Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) but in very bad situation. Recently the share holders’ meeting decided reduction of capital. In August of this year, there was a rumor that they would sell the share in Turkish corporation but it seems that the company spreaded this to increase the price of its stocks in the stock market in Korea.
