Public employees protest, call on government to resign: ‘We cannot make a living'

* Photos: KESK

Click to read the article in Turkish

The Confederation of Public Employees Trade Unions (KESK) held a rally in Ankara and İstanbul yesterday (December 19) and said "We cannot make a living" with thousands of workers.

Following the rallies in Diyarbakır and İzmir the day before, the KESK held the rally in the capital city of Ankara with the participation of thousands of people including representatives from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Republican People's Party (CHP), Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP), Labor Party (EMEP), Left Party, People's Houses, Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), Turkish Medical Association (TTB), Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) and Democratic Alevi Associations (DAD).

* Photo: Birkan Bulut/Ankara-Evrensel

During the rally attended by thousands of workers and public employees, the groups chanted the slogan, "Government, resign."

Addressing the crowd, KESK Co-Chair Mehmet Bozgeyik raised concerns that people are getting poorer everyday:

While everything, from thread to needle, is imported in dollars, they say, 'Those who exchange the money given by the state to dollars are immoral.' In fact, they know that we do not have a single penny to invest in dollars. Let alone exchanging our money into dollar, we cannot even make ends meet with our income till mid-month. Everyone knows who is immoral and merciless.

'We want our share in the budget'

"Our salaries leave our pockets without entering them in the first place," protested Bozgeyik further and listed their requests as follows:

"In order to make a living, we want our share in the budget.

"In order to make a living, we want an end to the purge of the public and to the theft of privatization.

"In order to make a living, we want a budget in favor of people.

"We want an end to unfair taxes based on the mindset of getting less from who earns more and getting more from who earns less.

"As was the case with other budgets, there is no room for women in the 2022 budget. To remove the obstacles to women's employment and end sexist and discriminatory policies, we demand a gender-sensitive budgeting.

"With the sales contracts made by pro-government confederations, our requests were ignored and our rights were usurped.

"Our purchasing power is melting with each passing day. In order to make a living, we demand an end to sales contracts; we want a democratic, real collective labor contract with the right to go on strike."

In İstanbul, workers met in Kartal Square on the Anatolian side. Hundreds of people from neighboring cities of Kocaeli, Sakarya, Kırklareli, Edirne and Tekirdağ also attended the KESK rally in İstanbul. (RT/SD)