The Zone

There are 20 free trade zones in Turkey, with a total of 45,000 workers.

Seven workers speak out. One of them was fired because she had joined the union. "During our job interview, we all had to promise not to join the union." When she refused to quit the union, she was threatened and intimidated. Management called her family to put pressure on her.

Another woman, working in a textile factory, says they have to ask for permission to go to the toilet. They are only allowed to use it once or twice per day. If they take more than 5 minutes, they are asked what they have been doing. Sometimes these 10-minute-breaks are even deducted from their salary. There are only 2 toilets for 500 workers.
Workers are not allowed to talk to each other at the workplace. They are humiliated and sexually harassed by their foremen. "We have no rights in the factory", one of them says.

They are not only oppressed as workers, but additionally oppressed as women, inside and outside the factory..