Flormar-Yves Rocher workers continue to struggle

As Flormar administration tries to protect its "brand reputation" by advertising and press releases since it cannot conceal the company’s anti-labour policies, its sales rate has seriously started to decline
Thursday, 14 June 2018 20:44

The Flormar workers' resistance, which has made a tremendous impact in public opinion, pertinaciously continues with a great determination of cosmetics workers, who were fired because of unionising.

As Flormar administration tries to protect its "brand reputation" by advertising and press releases since it cannot conceal the company’s anti-labour policies, its sales rate has seriously started to decline.

Another effort of the Flormar administration and Groupe Rocher, which is a worldwide French cosmetics brand and actual owner of Flormar, along the workers’ resistance is to try to acquit Yves Rocher brand, the flagship of Groupe Rocher.

Although there is a great effort to not to link Yves Rocher with the protests in public opinion and social media, it is quite clear that all anti-labour practices in Flormar are directly related to Yves Rocher company and its administration.

THE SAME EXECUTIVE RUNS BOTH BRANDS 

51% of shares of Turkey’s Kosan Cosmetics, the producer of Flormar brand since 1972, was purchased by Laboratoires de Biologie Vegetale Yves Rocher SA affiliated to Yves Rocher SA in 2012. Thus, the brand of Flormar has become one of Groupe Rocher’s brands since that date. The shareholder group owning the majority of Kosan Cosmetics’ shares also assigned the executive board of the company. Bris Rocher has become the CEO of Kosan Cosmetics, which generated the brand of Flormar.

Bris Rocher is also the CEO of Yves Rocher and the grandchild of eponymous Yves Rocher, who is the founder of the company. In other words, the Rocher family makes major decisions within Flormar. Therefore, the Rocher Family and Yves Rocher brand are also directly responsible for Flormar’s anti-labour policies against workers.

Yves Rocher stands out as a brand that has carried out numerous social responsibility projects to enhance its global image, claiming that it respects the human rights and women’s rights, promoting environmental awareness by producing organic products. 

In order to protect their brand reputation, Yves Rocher administration is vigorously spreading messages trying to indicate that they are totally different brands with Flormar.

YVES ROCHER RESPECTS NEITHER FOR HUMANS NOR WORKERS 

Yves Rocher, which claims to respect the world, nature and ecology, also acts inconsistently with the international documents that it has signed. It is obviously seen that Yves Rocher disregards one [Principle 3] of the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact, enacting that "Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining…"

In order to be solidarity with the workers of Flormar, IndustriALL, a global union federation, carries out its campaigns in Europe with the title of "Act Beautiful in Turkey" referring to Yves Rocher’s motto and its anti-labour practices in Turkey.

Yves Rocher uses the phrase, "Act Beautiful," as the brand's motto. In order to be solidarity with the workers of Flormar, IndustriALL, a global union federation, carries out its campaigns in Europe with the title of "Act Beautiful in Turkey" referring to Yves Rocher’s motto and its anti-labour practices in Turkey.

On June 1, Hundreds of people had rallied in İstanbul to support the resisting Flormar workers with the call of "This Social Order Must Change Platform," which has been formed following the call of Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) for the parliamentary elections to be held on June 24.