September 28, 2006

The Adana branch of health care workers union Dev Sağlık-İş (member of Confederation of Progressive Labor Unions-DISK) held a press release meeting in the central park of Adana.

The press release came after the trial against the University Hospital at Balcali where 3 workers were illegally fired due to being a member of a union and was intended to shed light on the developments.

The union officials called attention to the fact that the problems at Balcali University Hospital and similar events that resulted in deaths at Konya Selcuk University Hospital were due to contracting out and having laborers work under the threat of losing their jobs.

Other unions and confederation representatives such as Retired Workers Union, Local Government Workers’ Union, Municipality Workers Union, Teachers and Education Workers Union participated in the event. Also present were some democratic mass organizations and political left parties such as Peoples Houses, Party Of Labor and the Socialist Platform of the Oppressed.

The press release demanded the hospital to stop its illegal practices of threatening the workers with firings due to being unionized and to take the fired workers back to work.

Hospital shows regular workers as “contracted” workers and pays below the required wages in violation of the law. After state controllers discovered this illegal practice, the management promised to change the status of the workers to regular labor but has not fulfilled its promise.

MB.