Hugo Boss on Friday denied IndustriAll Global Union’s charges that factory workers in an Izmir production facility are grossly underpaid, denied overtime wages and have no social benefits.
The Turkish Union of Textile, Knitting and Clothing Industry Workers, an IndustriAll affiliate, has been helping Hugo Boss’ 3,000 workers in Izmir to organize for more than three years. The group alleges that the majority of them earn “less than the poverty threshold with long working hours, discretionary overtime and no social benefits.” Activists contend that union supporters as well as their family members and close friends have been targeted with “threats, punishments and sackings.”
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IndustriAll claims that “it took long drawn-out court processes to prove 20 illegal sackings of trade union supporters between 2011 and 2014” and eight more are still pending in court. “Although the High Court of Appeals confirmed that those workers were dismissed by Hugo Boss because of their union membership and ordered their reinstatement, management took an option open under the law to pay them extra compensation instead,” the group claims.
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Hugo Boss denied any such wrongdoing. “Hugo Boss cannot understand the allegations from IndustriAll, issued in their current statements against the group, in any way. Neither the statements regarding our company-owned production facility in Izmir correspond with the facts, nor is the information concerning the legal issues referring to former employees accurate,” according to a company statement issued by head of corporate communications Hjoerdis Kettenbach. “On the contrary, both the wages and the overtime hours in our production facility in Izmir are clearly outlined. Average wages are significantly above the customary local wages and the working environment in our facility is excellent. Accordingly, over 90 percent of our local employees confirmed in an anonymous survey that they are more than satisfied with the working environment and benefits provided. Aside from the provision of good salaries and extensive social benefits, there are also excellent training and career opportunities. Furthermore, our employees have access to canteens and numerous recreational and sports offers on site, which are all free of charge. For these reasons, Hugo Boss is one of the most attractive employers in the region of Izmir.”
The company also disagreed with the statements regarding the labor cases, noting, “Hugo Boss is not aware whether employees belong to a trade union or not, as there are no obligations for employees to inform their employer about a membership. In the described present cases, the court rulings confirm that the terminations by the company were legitimate and were not due to union membership of these individual employees.”
While IndustriAll alleges that “at no stage throughout the process did Izmir management of Hugo Boss accept offers from TESKIF to resolve the issues through social dialogue, nor was there intervention from international management,” Hugo Boss painted a different story Friday. “All correspondence that we received from IndustriALL was answered by the board of management. In our last letter, which was dated February 23, 2015, we particularly emphasized that we are open to dialogue with IndustriALL. Also in this regard, the statement that was issued by IndustriALL does not correspond with the facts.”
IndustriAll represents more than 50 million workers in the textiles and apparel sector through 700 unions in 143 countries. The group attests that the Izmir factory makes “an important portion of Hugo Boss clothes and is directly owned and run by the brand.” In addition, “It is the largest single clothing factory in Turkey and as such can potentially set an industry standard for labor relations in the country,” according to the union group.
IndustriAll’s general secretary Jyrki Raina wrote to Hugo Boss chairman and chief executive officer Claus-Dietrich Lahrs on Feb. 17, urging him to use his influence over local management in Izmir to immediately stop dismissals, stop interfering with the rights of workers to join a union of their choice and reinstate the dismissed workers, as well as two other union member whom he claimed were fired Feb. 13. Raina also encouraged Lahrs to enter into a meaningful dialogue with TEKSIF, noting that IndustriAll will continue to support its affiliate until Hugo Boss “fully abides by national and international labor law.”
Asked if Hugo Boss plans to take any legal action, Kettenbach said, “We will go into the dialogue with them.”