Özak/Kübrateks

The WRC investigated reports of severe repression of workers’ freedom of association—including mass firings and arrests, threatened and actual violence, wage theft, and blacklisting against 400 workers at Levi’s supplier factory in Türkiye. The WRC found that Özak Global (in some instances in collaboration with both the local militarized forces and a company-favored union), committed, or was complicit in, egregious violations of labor rights at this facility. This included violence, arrests, the retaliatory mass firing of roughly 400 workers, and the blacklisting of those workers—all in response to the decision of the majority of the facility’s workforce to join an independent union at the factory named BİRTEK-SEN.

Levi’s acknowledged that the mass firing was a violation (in Levi’s words a “zero tolerance violation”) of Levi’s standards for suppliers and stated it would only continue to place orders with Özak/Kübrateks if the illegally fired workers were reinstated. Levi’s them performed a head-spinning about face, dropping its demand for reinstatement, abandoning the fired workers, ignoring its own labor standards, and rewarding the factory with more business. As a result, there has been no remediation of the violations documented by the WRC.

Read More:

• WRC Findings, Recommendations, and Status at Ozak (Türkiye) – June 21, 2024
• Bulgular, Öneriler, Fabrika ve Şirket Yanıtları – 21 Haziran 2024

In the News:

• “Levi’s slammed for ignoring its own labour standards,” Apparel Insider – June 27, 2024
• “Levi’s under fire after supplier laid off hundreds of workers,” CNN – June 26, 2024
• “Explainer: The cost of ignoring worker freedom of association,” just-style – June 25, 2024
• “‘We couldn’t even afford to buy the pants we made’: Turkish Levi’s worker speaks out,” CNN – June 25, 2024
• “Levi’s Turkish Supplier Behind Worst Union-Busting Case in Years, Labor Group Says,” Rivet – June 21, 2024

• “Yaşananlar Levi’s’ın ‘etik marka’ iddiasını yok etti” BirGün – 22 Haziran 2024
• “Özak Tekstil raporu: “Yaşananlar Levi’s’ın ‘etik marka’ iddiasını yok etti”” evrensel – 21 Haziran 2024
• “WRC’den Özak işçileri raporu: Ağır ve bariz bir hak ihlalidir“ evrensel – 21 Haziran 2024
• “İşçi Hakları Konsorsiyumu’ndan ‘Özak’ raporu: ‘Korkunç hak ihlalleri gerçekleştirildi’” Cumhuriyet – 21 Haziran 2024
• “Özak Tekstil İşçilerinin Hak İhlali Tescillendi” halk – 21 Haziran 2024