{"id":40402,"date":"2025-07-06T08:50:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T06:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danwatch.dk\/danish-flower-giant-accused-of-mafia-methods-against-employees-in-turkey\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T10:39:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T08:39:35","slug":"danish-flower-giant-accused-of-mafia-methods-against-employees-in-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/danwatch.dk\/en\/danish-flower-giant-accused-of-mafia-methods-against-employees-in-turkey\/","title":{"rendered":"Danish Flower Giant Accused of Mafia Methods against Employees in Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you buy flowers in Danish supermarkets, you’ve probably come across Queen \u2013 known for their potted plants with dense, green leaves and small, colorful flower buds.<\/p>\n\n

Queen is one of Denmark’s largest flower producers and is owned by A\/S Knud Jepsen with headquarters in Himmerland. The group supplies flowers to both the Danish market and a number of other European countries. <\/p>\n\n

Danwatch can now reveal that the group is facing turmoil in Turkey, where local workers accuse a nursery, which is partly owned by Queen, of harassment, threats, and dangerous working conditions.<\/p>\n\n

Danwatch has been in Turkey and spoken with several sources who describe a labor dispute that has escalated in recent months.<\/p>\n

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Flowers from Queen are sold in a wide range of retail stores in Denmark. Photo: Danwatch <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

This is despite the fact that on its website, Queen emphasizes that the company actively works with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals – including goals 5 and 8, which concern gender equality, decent work conditions, and economic growth. <\/p>\n\n

“We take responsibility in the fight against poverty by ensuring good labor rights, equal pay,” the website states, among other things, about the production in Turkey, which the Danish nursery group established with a Turkish partner in 2010 under the name Queen T\u00fcrkiye. <\/p>\n\n

In Turkey, however, a different picture emerges. <\/p>\n\n

Mafia Methods<\/h2>\n\n

“Expect to be shot in the head if you don’t leave the union.” This was the threat, according to a female employee at Queen T\u00fcrkiye, when she was approached one evening in March at her home address by a man she believes has a connection to the company. <\/p>\n\n

The woman, who has worked seven years at the nursery, doesn’t know why she specifically was approached, but she has been one of those at the forefront of employees – who are mainly women – joining the union. She does not wish to be identified by name as she still works for the company. <\/p>\n\n

The threat came in the wake of a labor conflict that began earlier this year when over half of the company’s 350 employees joined the BTO-SEN union. <\/p>\n\n

The Turkish union organizes workers in agriculture, horticulture, and forestry and is part of DISK, which is one of the country’s largest trade union confederations. DISK is known for its left-wing, activist stance and its focus on workers’ rights. <\/p>\n