Beykoz Municipality workers: 'Without the producers, there would be no administrators'

Beykoz Municipality workers gathered in front of the municipal building to address the administration. Expressing that the promises made to them during the election campaign have not been kept and demanding to sit at the table for a collective bargaining agreement, the workers, who are members of Tüm-Bel-Sen affiliated with KESK, addressed the Mayor of Beykoz. 

"Without the producers, there would be no administrators," the workers stated, noting in their press release that they are demanding 2 percent of the municipal budget, and asked, "We ask the Mayor of Beykoz here: Do municipal workers not even deserve 2 percent of the budget?"

Beykoz Municipality workers said the following in their press statement: 

“In this country, we, the laborers, are always the ones forced to pay the bill for the crisis. We do not accept, and will not accept, that when employers talk about austerity, they first look to cut the rights of laborers. Austerity should not be achieved through laborers trying to survive on minimum wage, but through unnecessary expenditures made for ostentation. 

We do not accept the claim that there are no public resources. We, the laborers, know very well that if institutions are managed with a transparent and accountable approach and resources are used correctly, they will not experience any financial difficulties.  

We are the laborers who serve the people of Beykoz, and we cannot make ends meet. We are not the ones who govern this country or created this crisis, and we are not obligated to pay the bill for this crisis. In this country, where the hunger threshold is 30 thousand TL and the poverty threshold is 78 thousand TL, we do not accept austerity measures at the expense of the rights and wages of laborers. Our demand for a wage that allows for a humane life is not a demand that will put the institutions' budgets in trouble. We are demanding 2 percent of the annual budget of Beykoz Municipality. We ask the Mayor of Beykoz here: Do municipal workers not even deserve 2 percent of the budget? Our goal is not to fight with the municipal administration, to confront them, or to disrupt industrial peace. But let no one have any doubt that we will demonstrate all kinds of legitimate and democratic reactions against an attitude that sets back the rights and interests of our members. 

We call on the Mayor here to keep the promises he made to municipal workers during the election process and to eliminate the grievances of municipal workers by signing the collective bargaining agreement. We know that rights are not given, they are taken. We know that without the producers, there would be no administrators. Our strength is our unity.”

News Source: 12punto