Posco, the world’s fifth-largest steel producer, continues to resist attempts by its Turkish workforce to unionize, firing workers joining IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Birleşik Metal-İş. A total of 80 union members have now been fired, with the latest dismissals coming after the union applied to the Minstry of Labour for a majority certificate that would give them the legal right to represent the 420 workers.

Company managers are attempting to intimidate workers by telling workers on the factory floor they will never accept or meet with the union...

In a solidarity letter sent to Birleşik Metal-İş, Kim, Ho-Gyu, president of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) [...] urged the workers in Turkey not to give up the fight...

The KMWU is fighting a long and hard battle for recognition at the company. Because of the “no union” policy, they have only been able to organize some precarious workers, and no direct employees. At Posco’s plants in Korea, precarious subcontractors form the majority of the workforce, despite a court ruling that this subcontracting is illegal, and that the workers should be regularized...

In Turkey, members of Birleşik demonstrated outside the factory, as well as outside Kibar Holding, a Turkish joint venture partner with Posco. The union also held a demonstration outside the Korean consulate, demanding that the company respect workers’ rights.