Watches Swatch employees in Turkey go on strike
According to the trade union, the employees of the 16 directly operated Swatch branches in Turkey went on strike on Monday.
10.11.2025, 14:00
SDA
The work stoppage followed the failure of months of negotiations between the Swiss watch manufacturer and the trade union Koop-Is.
According to its own information, Koop-Is represents around 150 to 170 employees in the Swatch stores as well as two Omega branches and the national office in Istanbul. The union announced on Monday that work had stopped at all workplaces from 10.00 am. A Swatch spokesperson declined to comment on the impact of the strike when asked by the news agency AWP.
The union had previously stated that it had tried in vain to reach an initial collective agreement during the 60-day negotiation and three-week conciliation phase. Swatch had offered wage increases, some of which were well below Turkish inflation - around 25 percent for sales staff and 5 to 15 percent for office workers.
When asked, the company described the demands as "unrealistically high and completely exaggerated". The company works in full compliance with all applicable international and national laws and regulations and will continue to do so in the future, it said.
Trade unions: "The clock is ticking"
The union is demanding retroactive wage increases from April 2024, more job security through a disciplinary committee and equal access to bonuses and social benefits. According to them, Swatch wants to continue to grant key benefits differently and postpone the retroactive entry into force of a possible contract until July 2025.
"Our fight will continue until every employee receives the respect and fair treatment they deserve," Koop-Is President Eyüp Alemdar said in a statement on Instagram. The move to strike was unavoidable because the company's proposals remained "unfair and discriminatory".
It was time for Swatch management to show respect for its employees and return to the negotiating table, Mathias Bolton from the international umbrella organization UNI Global also said on Instagram. "The clock is ticking for Swatch to do the right thing." The umbrella organization wrote a letter to Swatch CEO Nick Hayek and Chairman of the Board Nayla Hayek in an attempt to resolve the conflict.
