Unlawful layoffs at 9 Eylül Newspaper: 'To avoid paying severance...'

The İzmir Journalists Association (İGC)-owned 9 Eylül Newspaper is facing controversy over the layoff of senior journalists.

It was stated that the decision to lay off the journalists was made by the İzmir Journalists Association Board of Directors approximately 15 days ago, and a notice posted at the workplace indicated that journalists with more than five years of seniority would be laid off to avoid the burden of severance pay.

It was also stated that future hiring would involve 10-month employment contracts for journalists.

‘THEY ADMITTED TO VIEWING JOURNALISTS AS SEASONAL WORKERS’

The notice in question has sparked backlash. The Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS) İzmir Branch stated that the IGC management is targeting four TGS members who continue to work at 9 Eylül Newspaper and have more than five years of seniority at the workplace.

Emphasizing that threatening union members with dismissal on the grounds of accumulated severance pay liability is unacceptable, the statement included the following remarks:

"Severance pay is not a burden; it is a right earned by workers. The IGC management, which prides itself on protecting journalists' rights in every environment and boasts about signing a collective bargaining agreement with the union in İzmir after many years, has admitted through the notices it posted inside the building that it intends to usurp the right to severance pay and views journalists as seasonal workers.

Our members are being targeted by an unsigned notice posted on the workplace walls yesterday. Those who speak of the burden of seniority aim to employ retired journalists and those in need, whom they will hire anew, with 10-month contracts. 9 Eylül, which prides itself on being a school for young journalists, apparently now wants to transform into an institution where seasonal journalists work."

‘IGC MANAGEMENT AIMS TO DE-UNIONIZE 9 EYLÜL NEWSPAPER’

The statement also emphasized that removing and 'revising' the posted decision text after the backlash would be of no use, adding: "Another issue we find it useful to state today is that the IGC management aims to de-unionize 9 Eylül. The union membership of journalists hired to replace our members who have left or were fired in the last year has been obstructed, and the number of our union members in the institution, which has a total of 25 employees, has dropped to 13.

Employees' memberships have been obstructed through the constantly repeated rhetoric in the workplace of 'What good is the union, we do everything ourselves.' Now, they want to render the union ineffective by laying off our four members.

It should be known that as the Journalists Union of Turkey, we will not remain silent in the face of union-busting carried out under the mask of a press professional organization. We call on the IGC President and management to abandon this wrong decision and to respect the right to work and trade union rights."

News Source: 12punto