Union workers dismissed by Yemeksepeti food delivery company win lawsuit for reinstatement

Click to read the article in Turkish

The İstanbul 35th Labor Court has concluded that Yemek Sepeti, the largest online food ordering platform in Turkey, dismissed workers due to "union reasons" and ruled that the workers shall be reinstated and paid compensation.

The case concerns the dismissal of three workers at the company's storehouse in Manisa province after the initiation of the proceedings for the authorization of the TÜMTİS transport workers union.

The court ruled that the workers will be paid union compensation worth of their one-year salaries and compensation worth of their four-month salaries for their idle time., the union said in a statement.

"The employer YemekSepeti began to put pressure on the workers and threaten them to fire them as soon as they learned that union work had started," the union said, adding that the dismissed workers were the ones that were leading the union activities at the company.

"On the one hand, [the company] objected to the determination of the majority [for union activities], and on the other hand, it fired union members. It wanted to encourage non-union work by making a distinction between unionized and non-union workers and by treating them differently."

The union urged the company to comply with the court ruling and said "we won't give up on our struggle" until a system with a collective bargaining agreement is established.

What happened?

After nearly one year of efforts, the delivery and depot workers of Yemeksepeti achieved their goal on July 8, 2021. The TÜMTİS sent a letter to the Ministry of Labor, stating that it had secured the majority required for a collective bargaining agreement.

The company objected to the determination of the majority. TÜMTİS claimed that the company changed its sector to avoid unionization. (EMK/VK)