March 18, 2006 Unions affiliated with the Confederation Of Turkish Workers Unions organized a protest march in İstanbul demanding the withdrawal of the Social Security and General Health Insurance (GSS) Draft Bill. 2000 workers participated in the march. The workers gathered in Galatasaray and then marched to Taksim Square. Workers from Deri-İş (Leather Workers Union, […]
March 18, 2006
Unions affiliated with the Confederation Of Turkish Workers Unions organized a protest march in İstanbul demanding the withdrawal of the Social Security and General Health Insurance (GSS) Draft Bill. 2000 workers participated in the march.
The workers gathered in Galatasaray and then marched to Taksim Square. Workers from Deri-İş (Leather Workers Union, Tuzla Branch), TÜMTİS, Belediye-İş (Municipal Workers Union), Tez Koop-İş, Yol-İş (Road Workers Union), Petrol-İş (Petroleum Workers Union), Basın-İş (Press Workers Union) and workers from Serna Seral and Cevahir Leather (already resisting) marched under their own banners.
As they marched the workers chanted, “Government, Take Back Your Proposal”, “Workers United Will Defeat the Capital”, “Free Education, Free Health Care”, “Don’t talk, Act Now”.
Faruk Büyükkucak, representing the Turkish Workers Confederation addressed the workers in Taksim Square and said the proposed GSS bill eliminated free health care and social security and the government disregarded all objections. He said, “If we don’t act now, it will be too late.” Workers frequently interrupted his talk, chanting, “General Strike, General Resistance”, “Time to Act, Not Talk’.
Another speaker, a member of the administrative committee of Istanbul Chamber of Physicians, Osman Öztürk said, “It is a crime even to think about this proposal let alone enact it. No way! There are 70 million people in this land. We won’t let it pass.”
EK
