In 2011, the Confederation of Trade Unions of Azerbaijan (AHIK) filed a lawsuit against McDonalds for the dismissal of the Chair of the Baku McDonalds restaurants’ union, Arif Babaev. Since the beginning of 2009 local trade unions have been organised by the Federation of Trade Unions of Azerbaijan “Khidmat Is” in four McDonalds restaurants in...Baku. During 2009, the membership increased from 18 to 165...[T]he union called for collective bargaining and suggested a draft collective agreement to the executive manager of the company, M.Mirzoev...[A] delegation from McDonalds’ Moscow office visited the restaurants in Baku, after which the pressure on the unions increased significantly. All union members have been called for individual conversations with management and have been forced to sign documents to leave their union...By the end of 2010, only 10 employees confirmed that they...wanted to be members of the unions. At the end of the year, the case was still pending before court. [The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited McDonalds to respond. The company’s response is below.]