Workers go on strike at Kadıköy Municipality
No agreement could be reached in collective bargaining negotiations between the General Union of Municipal Workers (Genel-İş), affiliated with the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), and Kadıköy Municipality. Workers have begun a strike in front of the municipal building.
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After no results were achieved in the negotiations, workers, including Genel-İş members from the Ataşehir, Maltepe, and Kartal municipalities, along with members from other branches of the union, gathered in the courtyard of the Kadıköy Municipality building in Hasanpaşa. The workers chanted slogans and danced to the accompaniment of drums and zurnas.
Genel-İş branch executive Semra Çelebi stated that before the strike decision was made, the negotiations they had been conducting with the municipality for a long time had remained inconclusive.
‘KADIKÖY MUNICIPALITY WORKERS ARE RECEIVING WAGES AT THE HUNGER THRESHOLD’
Çelebi stated that they had been conducting collective bargaining negotiations for over four months with Kadıköy Municipality, its subsidiary Kadıköy Health Tourism Education Environment Cleaning Inc. (KASDAŞ), and the Social Democratic Public Employers' Union (SODEMSEN), and said the following:
“(…) At a time when our backs are well and truly bent under the weight of heavy tax burdens and high inflation, we are taking this struggle to the squares because they came to us with a wage offer that cannot even be called laughable.
Kadıköy Municipality workers cannot pay their rent. They cannot eat lunch at a restaurant. Due to high rents, Kadıköy Municipality workers no longer live in Kadıköy.
Those who promised before the local elections that the wages of municipal workers in Kadıköy would be improved forgot these promises after they won. The additional protocol requested by the workers to make an adjustment to their salaries was not implemented despite being promised.
The salaries of Kadıköy Municipality workers have gone down in history as a black mark, being lower than all other municipal workers.”
Referring to the words of CHP Chairman Özgür Özel, Çelebi emphasized that economic difficulties also affect municipal employees.
“As CHP Chairman Özgür Özel said, ‘In this country, children go to bed hungry. The working masses are becoming increasingly impoverished.’ Well, is the situation any different in CHP-run municipalities? While Mr. Özel said in a speech just a few days ago, ‘The minimum wage should be raised to 30 thousand liras,’ Kadıköy Municipality workers are being forced to get by on wages at the hunger threshold.
We are issuing our final warning to the Kadıköy Municipality management. Come to the table immediately with wage offers that we can live on humanely. You are the party we are dealing with. Do not put SODEMSEN, which comes from Ankara every two years and does not know what the worker is suffering, in front of us. Otherwise, on November 19, all Kadıköy workers will be on strike with all their organized power and will fight on this path until they win.
Our demand is clear: a wage that allows for a humane life. A fair and real distribution from the budget to the worker and the laborer.”
Çelebi emphasized that they would continue their struggle hand in hand, arm in arm, and side by side with all workers in the Kartal, Maltepe, Ataşehir, Beşiktaş, and Sarıyer municipalities in Istanbul.
Following the statement, the strike decision was posted on the municipality's door.