German politicians urge football club to drop Turkish Airlines
August 5, 2013
On 2 August 2013, just before the start of the German football season, Inge Höger, a German politician who represents the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in the German parliament Bundestag and Andrej Hunko, a German MP of the Left party for Aachen, sent a joint letter to the president of Borussia Dortmund, asking him to use the club’s influence with its official sponsor Turkish Airlines over use of strike-breakers (see, ITF condemns use of strike-breakers by THY)
In the letter to Dr. Reinhard Rauball who is a member of the Social Democratic Party SPD, a trained lawyer and football official, Höger and Hunko described the background to the dispute between the Turkish Airlines management and the Turkish Civil Aviation Union (Hava-Is).
They urged Rauball to use his club’s global reputation and leverage immediately, and encouraged him “to thoroughly re-consider his club’s sponsorship with Turkish Airlines and stop if it deemed necessary.”
Höger and Hunko also reminded Rauball that the sponsorship deal between Turkish Airlines and Spanish football club FC Barcelona ended this year when the contract with the team ended.
Manchester United also decided not to renew its sponsorship agreement with Turkish Airlines last year.
On 8 August 2012, the then ITF general secretary David Cockroft wrote to the chief executive of Manchester United and the president of FC Barcelona urging them to help persuade Turkish Airlines to negotiate with the union with a view to reinstating the 305 workers dismissed for participating in a protest against a proposed amendment to the Turkish labour law which would remove their right to strike.
Take action, and send a protest letter to the Turkish labour minister here >>
Tags: Andrej Hunko, Borussia Dortmund, Inge Höger, Reinhard Rauball, sponsorship, strike-breakers, Turkish Airlines