Workers at TOKİ earthquake housing project go on strike

Workers employed by EN-EZ İnşaat and Araz Enerji at the TOKİ earthquake housing construction site have gone on strike, stating that they have not received their salaries.

According to a report by Fatma Keber from Gazete Duvar, approximately 200 workers who are members of the Construction Workers Union (İYİ-Sen) announced that they have stopped working because their wages have not been paid.

"LET THE MAN WHO RAN AWAY PAY YOU"

İsa Kanatlı, one of the workers participating in the protest, stated that their salaries had not been deposited for some time and that they had been promised payment today, but that the promise was not kept. Kanatlı said, "We have been working for 3 months. There are workers here from Diyarbakır, Urfa, and many other provinces. More than 150 workers are working here to earn their bread.

But they tell us, 'You have no claim against us.' The real issue starts here; we have a subcontractor, EN-EZ, which handles our insurance registration, but there is another subcontractor that employs us. Our point of contact right now is EN-EZ. This firm tells us, 'Let the man who ran away pay your money.' The man who ran away is also a subcontractor; he ran away 3 days ago," he said.

Stating that they met with the firm today, Kanatlı said, "They are stalling us every day with the same talk to avoid paying our money. They are stalling us because we are union members," he said.

"WE DO NOT ACCEPT THIS"

İYİ-Sen Chairman Hasan Kırlangıç stated that the main firm told the workers, "The subcontractor ran away, go get your money," and added: "We, as the union, have stepped in; our friends were already our members.

Of course, we do not accept such a situation. They already had delayed wages. We are demanding their wages for March, April, and May.

There are nearly 200 workers who are victims; 158 of them are acting with us, but we will seek the rights of the other friends as well, and we continue to do so."

News Source: 12punto