David Cockroft
5 December 2012 – Protestors in Istanbul demand the reinstatement of the 305 workers
A sponsorship deal between Turkish Airlines and Spanish football club FC Barcelona will end next year when the contract with the team ends.
The announcement was made in a statement released by Turkish Airlines on 16 November. It comes just four months after ITF general secretary David Cockroft wrote to the team’s president Sandro Rosell i Feliu urging him to help persuade Turkish Airlines to negotiate with the union with a view to reinstating the 305 workers dismissed for participating in a protest. The workers, represented by the ITF-affiliated union Hava-Is, had been demonstrating against the introduction of a strike ban, which the Turkish government has since withdrawn. In the letter, Cockroft also praised the club for its “values and historical association with the defence of democratic rights and freedom.” The ITF’s campaign to defend the union and its members also included a film Brutally Yours.”
Hava-Is president Atilay Ayçin commented: “I believe that this is the outcome of the “Brutally Yours” policy of Turkish Airlines. We know quite well that Turkish Airlines management had no intention of ending the sponsorship agreement. Once again, I call on the airline’s management to reinstate victimised workers immediately. As this incident shows, the whole world is watching the developments.”
For more information, visit: www.reinstate305.cfm
