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Here is a resume of the article in Dagens Industri today outlining IKEA's alleged unfair treatment of its Turkish workforce.



See full article in Swedish here: http://www.di.se/artiklar/2013/5/20/facket-attackerar-ikea/



"Today more than 40 unions including UNI Global Union are meeting in Stockholm to discuss working conditions at IKEA stores around the world. The company is accused of harassing employees in Turkey. Inter IKEA has refused to attend the meeting.



This is the second year in a row that unions meet to discuss the Swedish furniture giant. Top of the agenda will be the UNI Global Union report into conditions at IKEA in Turkey.



"IKEA is a company which is proud of its Swedish roots and of being a good employer and in and around Sweden that’s what they are. But our experience is that the farther away from Sweden you go, the greater the probability is for poor working conditions and anti-union behaviour," says Alke Boessiger, head of UNI Commerce.



Employees from IKEA' stores in Turkey had been invited to the meeting, but dare not come because of their fear of reprisals. The Turkish IKEA employees are instead represented by KOOP-IS, the equivalent of Handels in Turkey.



Deniz Akdogan is responsible for the campaign for the right of employees at IKEA in Turkey to join a union. He says that the company in Turkey is a franchisee of IKEA, Mapa, which allegedly pays employees to leave the union.



IKEA started in Turkey in 2005 and now has almost 2,000 employees in 5 stores, according toAkdogan. More than 10 people have been fired in Turkey because they were in the union, he claims.



"We believe that if you are a global company, you need a global policy to handle issues of wrking rights, but IKEA wants to do everything locally, says Alke Boessiger



According to IKEA's business structure, all stores are by definition franchisees. The concept and the brand are however owned by Inter IKEA, which is the furniture company's global franchisor.





The union has therefore invited representatives from Inter IKEA to the Stockholm meeting, but without success.





Marie Kihlberg Nelving, international officer at Unionen, is critical. "The report shows major issues, I think it is a great pity that they don't want to participate in the meeting," she says."



See print edition of article by clicking on Related Files tab at top.