Following the devastating earthquakes on February 6 that affected 11 provinces in Turkey, resulting in over 50,000 deaths and severe damage to over 227,000 buildings, KFC declared the closure of its stores in the impacted area.
The fast-food chain unilaterally terminated the contracts of the workers and laid off more than 200 workers, without paying compensation.
Stores will close on different dates in the provinces of Batman, Bingöl, Urfa, Antep, Elazığ, Malatya, Maraş, Diyarbakır, and Hatay, according to Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK) board member and Gıda-İş Union Chair Seyit Aslan, stating that some of the stores have been severely damages, others are undamaged but will close anyway.
”KFC informed the workers for the first time on March 22. They requested the workers to resign without any prior warning. This meant being unemployed without severance pay, notice pay, and unemployment benefits,” the trade union leader said to bianet, adding that later KFC offered transfers to other branches in unaffected areas.
”Most of the workers said they could accept this offer with the condition of rental support, otherwise they could not accept it.
”KFC has been in the region for years and has made significant profits. We are talking about a monopoly company that operates worldwide. Their attitude condemns workers to hunger without considering the earthquake and disaster.
”Employment should have been protected in the region. At least for a year, KFC could have provided its employees with both work and pay. They could have opened new job opportunities during the recovery phase. They chose not to do so and decided to withdraw.
”The people in the earthquake region are already victims. Such closure adds to their suffering. People’s lives and homes have been destroyed. Now people will experience a second earthquake by becoming unemployed. They will be dragged into a second disaster by being deprived of their income. This decision is genuinely sentencing the survivors to death by hunger. It is like pronouncing them to a second death.
Source : English Bianet