204 municipal workers protest in Iğdır: DEM Party mayor refuses to talk

Workers dismissed by the DEM Party-run Iğdır Municipality on the grounds that "excess personnel were hired before the March 31 local elections" are continuing their protests.

Gathering in the old municipal courtyard, the workers and their families marched toward the new municipal building, chanting slogans such as "We will win by resisting" and "Rights, law, justice."

Belediye-İş Union President Himmet Bozan, who held a press statement in front of the municipality, said the following:

"204 of our friends and members have been dismissed unfairly and unlawfully. Before the election, Mehmet Nuri Güneş, who was the Iğdır Mayoral Candidate, and the previous Mayor, Attorney Murat Yikit, visited our union and said, 'We are on the side of the workers and laborers; if you want, register, and when we come to power, we will not dismiss the workers.'  If they deny their words by saying 'we didn't say that,' let them come out and explain. After the election was over, they invited all the workers with their spouses to a meet-and-greet, where they said, 'We will not play with anyone's bread.' If they say they 'didn't say that' either, let them come out and explain. If your honor and conscience allow, deny what you said in front of hundreds of people. So, what did they do after the elections? After Mehmet Nuri Güneş became Mayor, he forced our union members to resign through pressure, oppression, exile, and mobbing. He changed their workplaces to intimidate municipal workers and put pressure on them. Regardless of their educational background or office roles, they assigned female workers to park and garden duties to intimidate them into resigning. They gave brooms to other university-graduate office workers and assigned them to cleaning duties. They tried to intimidate some of our members by assigning them to different directorates 7-8 times in a single month. Our members and friends stood by their livelihoods. None of them said, 'I am a university graduate, I will not do this job.' None of them said, 'I am a woman, this job is not for women.' They all said, 'We are laborers, we will do the sweeping and the park and garden work,' and they fulfilled the assigned tasks completely.

Despite the law and the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement, our workplace union representatives were dismissed and their workplaces were changed to put pressure on our members. Our representatives were sought to be silenced through pressure and exile. As the Belediye-İş Union, we warned Mayor Mehmet Nuri Güneş, who tried to intimidate our members through pressure, exile, and mobbing, and who changed the positions of our representatives. We said, 'Your municipal council members are putting pressure on municipal employees; stop this lawlessness.' We said, 'Do not do this, you are acting outside the law; the oppression you inflict on the laborer will come back to haunt you sooner or later, follow the law.' They ignored us and increased the pressure. Mayor Mehmet Nuri Güneş pushed away all our attempts at dialogue with the back of his hand. They told us, 'Do whatever you know.' All doors have become walls."

STATEMENT FROM IĞDIR MUNICIPALITY

In the statement made by the municipality, it was stated that excess personnel had been hired by the municipality before the March 31 Local Elections.

In a statement made by Mayor Nuri Güneş, the following was noted:

"As all our citizens are aware, personnel were hired by the municipality in excess of need prior to the March 31 local elections. Since the date we took over the administration, rather than taking a wholesale approach, we have considered the value we place on labor, the institution's needs, and the budget situation. Due to our institution's inability to provide services because of its debt status, high costs, and the inability to make salary, tax, and social security payments, the employment contracts of 204 company personnel were terminated as of July 5, in accordance with Article 49 of the Municipal Law No. 5393."