“Ikea’s actions in Turkey are upsetting. During my visit there I heard how employees were harassed and threatened for being members of a union. That is completely unacceptable,” Lars-Anders Häggström, chair of Sweden’s Commercial Employees’ Union (Handels) said in a statement.
During a recent visit to Turkey, representatives from the union, together with counterparts from Swedish trade union group Unionen, heard how Ikea workers in Turkey had been threatened at the workplace.
The Swedish union reps were also told how Ikea company representatives reportedly visited the homes and families of Ikea workers in an effort to pressure them to leave the local union, Koop-Is.
Company representatives had also reportedly visited the homes and families of Ikea workers in an effort to pressure them to leave the union.
“Everyone has a right to organize a union in order to improve conditions at the workplace,” said Häggström.
Members of the Koop-Is union are planning a demonstration to be held in Istanbul on September 8th in order to draw attention to the problem.
In conjunction with the reported anti-union behaviour of Ikea in Turkey, the Swedish unions renewed calls for the furniture retailer to sign a global labour rights deal that would support the right of Ikea workers to join a union and engage in collective wage negotiations.
A spokesperson for Ikea in Sweden refused to comment directly on the situation in Turkey, but emphasized that Ikea is “open” to a global labour agreement.
“Our workers are very important to us and we want them to be engaged and motived,” she told The Local.
“We want everyone to be able to make the choice freely of whether they join a union or not.”
She added that Ikea had “good” working relationships with unions in many places.
Ikea representatives in Turkey failed to respond to The Local’s request for comment on the issue.
David Landes
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