11.01.2013 18:20
IKEA Turkey plans to open three more of its big-box furniture stores in Turkey within six years, the CEO of IKEA Turkey's parent company, Maya Holding, said on Thursday.
IKEA Turkey plans to open three more of its big-box furniture stores in Turkey within six years, the CEO of IKEA Turkey's parent company, Maya Holding, said on Thursday.
Speaking at a press conference, CEO Fuat Atalay said the company would open one additional store in İstanbul and two more in as of yet undetermined locations. There are currently two IKEA stores in İstanbul, as well as one each in Izmir, Bursa and Ankara.
Atalay also answered questions over the union dispute that has roiled the furniture maker in recent months, telling the press that the company does not discriminate against unionized employees. We have "not discouraged workers from forming a union," Atalay said in answer to questions over a string of employee protests at IKEA stores last year. The Turkish labor union Koop-İş has claimed in recent years that employee protests are aimed at the anti-union practices of Maya Holding and has called for collective bargaining rights for full-time employees.
IKEA Global, the Sweden-based namesake from which IKEA Turkey is legally independent, has called upon the Turkey branch to meet union demands, though negotiations between the three groups fell through late last year. IKEA Turkey argues that Turkish labor laws do not require it to follow the pro-union labor policies found at IKEA stores in most other countries.
(Cihan/Today's Zaman)