January 11, 2007 The workers of Akyıl factory in the South Eastern city of Diyarbakır had gone on strike 56 days ago to get paid on time, to have their social security payments deposited on time and for better working conditions. The workers voiced their demands once more in front of the governor’s office yesterday. […]
January 11, 2007
The workers of Akyıl factory in the South Eastern city of Diyarbakır had gone on strike 56 days ago to get paid on time, to have their social security payments deposited on time and for better working conditions. The workers voiced their demands once more in front of the governor’s office yesterday. They called on the governor to take the necessary measures against the Akyıl owners who were employing workers without proper regulations.
Representatives from the local branches of Tüm Bel-Sen, the union of local government workers; Türk-İş, the largest labor union confederation and the socialist political party EMEP, the Party of Labor also participated in the demonstration. Aziz Bürçün, the representative from TEKSIF union read a press release from the organized workers. The statement said, “Some capital owners are trying to take advantage of the war situation and are adopting dirty tricks to collect more profits. They have established a monstrous exploitation system on the workers by combining feudal landlord and imperialist mentality.”
Bürçün also said the workers were able to unionize despite all the pressure from the bosses. He also explained how the bosses were violating the law by trying to prevent the workers from organizing. The statement said, “The management is attempting to break the strike with impunity and are hiring underage, irregular workers outside of regulations to replace the workers on strike. We have called the local Social Security and Labor Department officials to investigate the situation. Their investigation revealed that the replacement workers were hired in violation of the laws and regulations. A control was instigated from the Prime Minister’s office, yet, despite all these, the management continues to operate business as usual.”
Bürçün also added that the bosses tried to transfer the workers illegally to another business and fire them. He said, “They are filing imaginary forms and documents. They see themselves above the law. We want to know what kind of relationships they have gives them this impunity. Who is behind them?”
If the governor does not respond to the illegal actions of the bosses, the workers will take their struggle to the nation’s capital, Ankara.
Source: Evrensel Daily.
