WORKERS at a factory in Turkey supplying global jeans brand Levi Strauss have been subjected to intimidation and violence, according to a study by a labour rights monitoring organisation.

The US-based Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) published a report today detailing its investigation into the working conditions at a factory owned by the Ozak Global in Sanliurfa — about 400 miles south-east of capital city Ankara — which produces the Levi’s famous red tab jeans.

The report accuses Ozak Global, the provincial security forces and the company’s favoured union, of having been complicit in “violence, arrests and retaliatory mass firings against roughly 400 workers, after the majority of the facility’s workforce chose to join an independent union” since last November.  

“As Levi’s has openly acknowledged, these abuses by its supplier, Ozak Global, violated Turkish law, international labour standards, and Levi’s own code of conduct,” the report says.

However, in April 2024, Levi’s “informed the WRC that it is continuing to do business with the factory and will not require Ozak Global to reinstate the illegally fired workers,” the report says.

A compnay spokesperson told the Star: "At Levi Strauss & Co, we have a longstanding commitment to supporting safe, productive workplaces for workers and we take any allegations of efforts to curtail freedom of association extremely seriously.

"That said, the Workers Rights Consortium report on the Ozak situation contains several mischaracterizations and omits a number of relevant details.

"Over the course of the labour unrest, we were in frequent contact with the factory management to firmly express our support for the lawful expression of workers’ voices and workers’ right to freedom of association.

"After several months of engaging to find solutions and wanting to ensure there is no further job loss, we decided to continue working with Ozak on a conditional basis that depends on management’s fulfillment of a detailed remediation plan that addresses freedom of association, working hours, and health and safety.

"We reduced our production orders to align with the facility’s capacity and are conducting regular visits to the facility to ensure compliance with the remediation plan. We will remain committed to making sure factory management observes and upholds the rights and benefits for the workers per local labour laws and our Supplier Code of Conduct."

Read WRC's full report here: tinyurl.com/z6d8cwsn.