Page 162 - KAZOVA - ENGLISH

building are leaving. There was a scattering of textile factories over
the years but now, great and small, they are being turned into
homes or hotels.

Kazova is a medium-ranking factory that has turned out many
famous brands since the 1940s. With roughly a hundred workers

it turns out two thousand sweaters a day. But in recent years it has
been increasingly unsuccessful commercially. If at the moment we
cannot use the term “bankrupt” in the legal sense, it debts on the
market mean that the end for its employers is not far off. In front
of the factory a stable room of resistance has been formed, hot
water is permanently on the boil. So many workers come to sup-
port them that there are cartons of glasses and tea prepared for
one group is also readily shared with the next that comes along.
They say, “If you come to support us it is as though you have the

same hospitality as the landlord”. The front of the factory has
colourful posters with revolutionary slogans.

Months have gone by without them being paid. “It was some-
thing sporadic in the past but these days we do not know how we
are getting by without money,” they say. “Precautions” started for
everyone working there, beginning with seniority. For example,
the factory was created by uniting two buildings 30 years ago, and
now they have been separated by putting a wall up. On paper, this

means changing who the owner is: from the Somuncu family to
another relative… The most expensive machinery went to the
other side and even 11 workers were transferred over there.

And then what happened? On the one hand the factory went
up for sale, a buyer was found, the workers were taken aback to
find themselves out the door. Promises were made almost 200 days

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