Tekgıda-İş Union negotiations do not yield positive results

The Tekgıda-İş Union, which continues its efforts for bakery workers in Ankara, has issued a press release.

The statement made by the union is as follows:

Since the establishment of our Tekgıda-İş Union, 24 Collective Bargaining Agreements have been signed in the Ankara bakery workplaces where we are organized. Our 25th Term negotiations are still ongoing. Taking into account the economic conditions our country is currently facing, the employer side has remained indifferent to our demands in the negotiations we initiated with the All Bread Industry Employers' Union. They have cited the price hikes in basic inputs such as electricity, natural gas, fuel, and flour as an excuse, and have further claimed that they cannot cover the costs related to the new term wages by pointing to the price pressure from the Ankara Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Trade, as well as the lack of new tariffs. Within this framework, no progress has been made in the ongoing negotiations.

It appears that the ministry's price pressure, the hikes in flour prices, and the expenses for electricity, natural gas, and fuel are being met, as it were, through the sweat of the laborers. Bakery workers are once again being condemned to hunger, misery, and poverty. It is being ignored that bakery workers also have homes, children, and people they are responsible for supporting, and that they are also affected by this economic crisis.

Unfortunately, the cost of the economic crisis is being forced upon bakery workers, who are required to produce even during disasters in our country, despite their self-sacrificing and dedicated work. Bakery workers, who work selflessly 365 days a year without taking leave, day and night, on all holidays, during festivals, earthquakes, and the pandemic, do not deserve this disloyalty. The sweat of the laborer cannot be sacrificed to either the greed of capital or the price pressure of the ministry.

As the Tekgıda-İş Union, the situation we are in was evaluated in all its dimensions at the Ankara Bakeries Branch Board of Directors Meeting held on 18/12/2023, and our Board of Directors has decided to initiate a strike action starting from 30/12/2023 if our demands are not met. We know that the public's support will be with the bakery workers in this labor struggle of ours.

We are determined to obtain what is rightfully ours through our power stemming from production.

News Source: 12punto