- Katılım
- Ocak 16, 2025
- Mesajlar
- 335,745
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Melisa AY
For three days, 4 women workers at HepsiJET warehouse in Esenyurt, Istanbul have been resisting for their rights. Viyan Çakır, Esra Yılmaz, Meryem Arslan and Meryem Yılmaz drew attention to poor working conditions, harassment and mobbing while demanding their rights from the employer after their employment contracts were ended with justified termination. Viyan Çakır is one of the workers who took up resistance after working in this warehouse for more than 3 years. Çakır said, ‘They have taken away our hard work for how many years, it hurts us’ and explained what happened: ‘’Everything the employer did was unlawful. We had no dialogue even though we made complaints about our bonuses, workplace hygiene, and uncooked food with hair on them. Finally, we 4 friends consulted with a lawyer and made a justified termination. When they asked our lawyer for compensation, HepsiJET and TRW employers said, ‘Don't give them a penny’. We felt very offended; we thought the only way was to resist.’
Esra Yılmaz stated that the managers did not act against a known harasser who was working inside the building. Yılmaz said, ‘’Every day we put our bags through the security area so that there would be no theft. Our friend was repeatedly harassed by a security guard working here.
The women security guards working there were also uncomfortable. Complaints were made to the vice-principal about this issue. The principal warned the man by saying, ‘No need for a manager, I will solve it’. When that man was given a warning, he started to use abusive language when women walked past there. He began to search for the people who had made complaints, and he confronted the people he harassed and insulted them. We realised that managers and administrators stood by him all the time. The harassed woman was replaced, and mobbing was always targeted at women.’
Touching on the poor conditions in the workplace, Yılmaz said, ‘Managers warm up in their offices with air conditioning and get cooler in the summer. We put sacks on our legs to avoid getting cold. In summer we change clothes four or five times a day. Food comes uncooked, spoilt with bugs. The more we complained, the more they ignored us. We don't want them to get away with it, also because they employ harassers. They did not care about us, we could not find anybody to talk to about our problems. There were some people who could not recover due to these harassments and mobbing for a long time.’
Yılmaz and Çakır finally stated the following together: ‘We got scabies, they blamed us, scabies has spread in the workplace. Human resources refused to take us into account. There is only one toilet for women while the majority of female staff work there. We were unable to do our job due to waiting in line at the door, and they were mad at the times we used for the toilets. The soaps and shampoos that broke during the shipment were the ones used in the toilets, sometimes we even washed our hands with detergent. We are not going to stop resisting here, we are not going to let them get away with what we have been through with our hard work.’
Note: This text has been translated from the Turkish original entitled HepsiJET deposunda çuvalla çalışıyorlar published in BirGün newspaper on Fabruary 20, 2025.
For three days, 4 women workers at HepsiJET warehouse in Esenyurt, Istanbul have been resisting for their rights. Viyan Çakır, Esra Yılmaz, Meryem Arslan and Meryem Yılmaz drew attention to poor working conditions, harassment and mobbing while demanding their rights from the employer after their employment contracts were ended with justified termination. Viyan Çakır is one of the workers who took up resistance after working in this warehouse for more than 3 years. Çakır said, ‘They have taken away our hard work for how many years, it hurts us’ and explained what happened: ‘’Everything the employer did was unlawful. We had no dialogue even though we made complaints about our bonuses, workplace hygiene, and uncooked food with hair on them. Finally, we 4 friends consulted with a lawyer and made a justified termination. When they asked our lawyer for compensation, HepsiJET and TRW employers said, ‘Don't give them a penny’. We felt very offended; we thought the only way was to resist.’
THE HARASSER STAYED; THE COMPLAINERS REPLACED
Esra Yılmaz stated that the managers did not act against a known harasser who was working inside the building. Yılmaz said, ‘’Every day we put our bags through the security area so that there would be no theft. Our friend was repeatedly harassed by a security guard working here.
The women security guards working there were also uncomfortable. Complaints were made to the vice-principal about this issue. The principal warned the man by saying, ‘No need for a manager, I will solve it’. When that man was given a warning, he started to use abusive language when women walked past there. He began to search for the people who had made complaints, and he confronted the people he harassed and insulted them. We realised that managers and administrators stood by him all the time. The harassed woman was replaced, and mobbing was always targeted at women.’
THEY HAVE AIR CONDITIONING, WE HEAT UP WITH SACKS
Touching on the poor conditions in the workplace, Yılmaz said, ‘Managers warm up in their offices with air conditioning and get cooler in the summer. We put sacks on our legs to avoid getting cold. In summer we change clothes four or five times a day. Food comes uncooked, spoilt with bugs. The more we complained, the more they ignored us. We don't want them to get away with it, also because they employ harassers. They did not care about us, we could not find anybody to talk to about our problems. There were some people who could not recover due to these harassments and mobbing for a long time.’
Yılmaz and Çakır finally stated the following together: ‘We got scabies, they blamed us, scabies has spread in the workplace. Human resources refused to take us into account. There is only one toilet for women while the majority of female staff work there. We were unable to do our job due to waiting in line at the door, and they were mad at the times we used for the toilets. The soaps and shampoos that broke during the shipment were the ones used in the toilets, sometimes we even washed our hands with detergent. We are not going to stop resisting here, we are not going to let them get away with what we have been through with our hard work.’
Note: This text has been translated from the Turkish original entitled HepsiJET deposunda çuvalla çalışıyorlar published in BirGün newspaper on Fabruary 20, 2025.