ABSTRACT
On 26 September 2006, more than 80 women workers went on strike in Turkey’s Antalya Free Zone. The strike followed in the wake of a drawn-out dispute related to working conditions and organising at Novamed – a subsidiary of the Germany-headquartered company Fresenius Medical Care (FMC), which is ‘the world’s largest integrated provider of products and services for individuals undergoing dialysis because of chronic kidney failure’. (FMC, 2009: 9) With at least a certain amount of success on the part of the workers and their union, a negotiated settlement of 18 December 2007, brought the strike to an end. In this chapter, we examine how practices of solidarity across levels, borders and social groups contributed positively to what has been hailed as a great ‘victory’ for the strikers. Acknowledging that a victory can quickly turn into a defeat, we also discuss some challenges or limits related to solidarity across borders and social groups beyond the strike itself.
