We visited SANOFI Lüleburgaz Plant as Lecturers and Students of The Jean Monnet Module SOCRETUR
On December 15, 2023, we visited SANOFI Lüleburgaz plant as teaching staff and students of the Jean Monnet Module SOCRETUR first semester course SOC420 Social Rights and Social Inclusion in Europe and Turkey at Galatasaray University. Cem Özatalay, Claire Visier and Marguerite Teulade from the SOCRETUR lecturing team were present during the visit with the participation of students from different departments.
The reason why we went to SANOFI, one of the world's leading companies in the pharmaceutical industry, was to observe the conditions offered by a European-based company to its employees and how these conditions align with the European Social Charter and the European Pillar of Social Rights.
At the production facilities, we were first greeted by the Factory Manager Rüştü Bahar. Bahar gave us information about the production at the plant as well as the employment conditions, and we learned that the working conditions for blue-collar and white-collar workers are not the same. The working conditions of blue-collar workers were framed by the collective bargaining agreement signed between the representative of the employer and Petrol-İş, the union authorized in the workplace. White-collar workers, on the other hand, had individual labor contracts.
We then took a tour of the production line. During the tour, which was conducted with a certain discipline due to strict hygiene and occupational safety measures, we observed that a strategy to increase productivity in the production process was adopted.
In the afternoon, we had a meeting with Mr. Cem Öztürk, Country President of Sanofi Turkey and President of Sanofi Turkey, Africa and Middle East Core Products, one of the first students and graduates of Galatasaray University. In the midst of his busy business agenda, Mr. Öztürk was kind enough to make time for the students from his former school, and gave them information about Sanofi, as well as advice on professional life based on his own experiences.
In the last part of our visit, Pırıl Saydam Kavasoğlu, Corporate Communications and CSR Manager at Sanofi, gave a presentation on the company's social responsibility activities.
It was already dark by the time we returned to Istanbul from this visit, which started early in the morning when we set off from the university and allowed us to make important observations on the subject of our course.
