AFP journalists in İstanbul go on strike over low wages

Click to read the article in Turkish

As a result of the unsuccessful collective bargaining talks held between the Turkish Journalists Association (TGS) and Agence France-Presse (AFP), the employees of the agency in İstanbul went on a strike today, which also marks the World Press Freedom Day..

TGS members, who hung a banner saying "This workplace is on strike" on AFP's office in the Nişantaşı quarter, announced the strike decision with drums and trumpets, chanting slogans to the accompaniment of halay dances.

TGS Chair Gökhan Durmuş, who spoke to the press on behalf of the employees, briefly said the following:

* On the road we have taken to write freely, we also want to claim our rights. In the collective bargaining negotiations we started about five months ago, we explained our concerns about the economic situation in Turkey in detail to the employer representatives.

* We made every effort during the collective bargaining negotiations to end this process at the table. However, we could not persuade the employer to accept our proposal to prevent the erosion of our wages.

* Turkey is facing a severe economic crisis. Price hikes on basic consumption items almost every day are causing a serious livelihood problem. We express the price hikes on the most basic consumption items and house rents in the last year in percentages of 300. We live in a country where the price of a kilogram of dry onion is 30 TL.

* The Turkish lira is losing value against the dollar and euro every day. The salaries of AFP members are also continuing to erode.

Employees' demands

* We asked the AFP employer to convert our wages to euros, and when this offer was not accepted, we asked for at least a protection mechanism that would compensate for the erosion in Turkish lira. However, this offer was also not accepted.

* When we think of our colleagues' salaries in euros, they have dropped by half even compared to 3 years ago. While trying to compensate for this, we also want to prevent these erosions from happening again.

* On World Press Freedom Day on May 3, we invite AFP employers to listen to the demands of their employees and meet their requests that will enable them to look to the future with more confidence.

* When we start the strike at AFP, we also want to announce our determination on World Press Freedom Day: We will not give up this struggle until the day when journalists can write freely, without censorship and pressure, and can take their rights.

Second strike in 14 years

There had been no strike in the press sector from 2009 to January 2022. The first strike was implemented last year due to the deadlock in the collective bargaining process between TGS and BBC.

The BBC strike was the first one in the press sector after the ATV-Sabah group strike in 2009. The strike, which lasted for 5 days, ended with an agreement.

(EMK/VK)