11 leading industrial actions of 2024

As the economic crisis grows deeper, and thus the financial hardship of workers, labourers and pensioners increase every day, we compiled highlights of industrial actions in 2024 across Turkey.

Photograph: Tarım-Sen/X

Agrobay Greenhouse workers 

Workers and members of Tarım-Sen, who had been dismissed from Agrobay Greenhouse in the Bergama district in İzmir for carrying out union work, began their resistance on 23 August 2023, and on the 140th day, on 8 January 2024, brought their action to Istanbul. The Agrobay Greenhouse workers held actions in front of the Germany, United Kingdom and Russia consulates, countries with which Agrobay Greenhouse export contracts.

On 18 March 2024, the workers began their march from Bergama to Ankara, and on 27 March they secured their first victory. The unpaid salaries and annual leave pays were paid. Tarım-Sen announced that they would observe the process until the compensation payments of the workers were also paid.

Photograph: Dev Yapı-İş union/X

Yapı Merkezi workers

Around two thousand workers working at the railway construction site of Yapı Merkezi, a Turkey-based construction company, and were not paid for seven months, had received gains following a 13-day strike action in August 2023, led by DİSK/Dev Yapı-İş.

However, when payments were once again delayed, Yapı Merkezi workers spent 2024 with resistance, too, continued their actions in January, March and May in front of the company headquarters in Istanbul and obtained their rights.

In a statement on 28 Mayıs to bianet, DİSK/Dev Yapı-İş General Secretary Nihat Demir, said, “How many times have we seen this? Workers can’t get paid if they don’t put up a resistance”.

Photograph: Öz Gıda-İş Union/X

Lezita Factory workers

Workers who are members of the Öz Gıda-İş Union working at the Lezita Factory in the Kemalpaşa district of İzmir, went on strike on 8 March 2024 when, despite the union possessing the right to hold collective labour agreement talks, the Lezita administration refused to meet at the negotiation table.

Union officials discovered that the employer had brought workers from India to break the strike, and that these workers had been accommodated in an apart residence in Turgutlu, close to the factory. On April 16, the gendarmerie intervened in the action in front of the factory, rear-handcuffing and detaining 16 workers, while 8 workers were injured.

Despite pressure and attempts at strikebreaking, the Lezita workers are continuing their resistance.

Photograph: BİRTEK-SEN union/X

Textile Industry workers

Workers in the textile industry in the cities of Antep and Urfa, left their mark on the year 2024 with the actions they began against low pay, heavy tax cuts, 3-team 7-day shift pattern, pressure to change unions and dismissals.

The actions of the textile workers then spread to larger metropolitan areas like Istanbul and Ankara, and in this way, the problems of the workers were widely discussed in the public agenda.

Led by the Unified Textile, Weaving and Leather Workers Union (BİRTEK-SEN), a significant part of these actions held at workplaces including Akcanlar Tekstil, Özak Tekstil, Gama Tekstil, Özsever Tekstil, Mega Polietilen, Melike Tekstil and Sayın Tekstil resulted in the demands of workers being accepted.

Photograph: DİSK/Enerji-Sen

İstanbul Enerji AŞ workers

Members of DİSK/Enerji-Sen working at İstanbul Enerji AŞ, an affiliate company of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB), began their action against low pay on 14 March 2024 at their workplace, moving their action on 18 March to the İBB headquarters in Saraçhane.

The two-day action there resulted in a victory for the energy workers on 20 March.

Photograph: DİSK/Dev Maden-Sen Union

Alpagut mineworkers

Workers who are members of DİSK/Dev Maden-Sen, working at the lignite mine in the Alpagut village of the Dodurga district of Çorum province and managed by ODAŞ Yel Enerji, began their resistance on 9 May 2024 for their rights to unionize and sign a collective labour agreement.

On 22 May, the workers decided to continue the resistance in the mine itself, and on 24 May, their demands were accepted and their struggle ended in victory.

Photograph: Evrensel newspaper

Polonez Food Factory workers

146 workers at the Polonez meat factory in the Çatalca district of Istanbul were dismissed on 18 July, because they organized against severe working conditions and low pay and had become members of the Tek Gıda-İş Union of the TÜRK-İŞ confederation.

Workers began action on 20 July in front of the factory, and on the 28th day, on 15 August, they tooktheir action to the Polonez General Directorate in Ataşehir, Istanbul. Workers then held protests in front of chain supermarket branches, calling for a boycott of Polonez products, and repeatedly faced police intervention during the actions they held in front of the factory.

The “March for Constitutional Rights” which the Polonez workers wanted to begin on 6 December, starting from Çatalca Court House and heading for Ankara, was prevented by police. Workers then began a rotating hunger strike in front of Çatalca Court House.

On 17 December, the workers re-started their march to Ankara, this time from the Kartal province of Istanbul, and the police once again intervened on 18 December in front of the Gebze Court House. In the evening on the same day, a channel for negotiations was opened as a result of meetings with Minister of Labour and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan, TÜRK-İŞ Chairperson Ergün Atalay, Tek Gıda-İş Union Chairperson Mustafa Türkel and an official representing the Presidency. The workers ended their hunger strike on 19 December, declaring that they would continue their struggle until their demands were met.

Photograph: Uşak Egem TV

Farmer actions

Further increases in input costs and the loss of the value of their products in the face of high inflation meant that Turkey, in the summer of 2024, became the scene of farmers’ actions across the country.

On 11 May 2024, tea producers began actions in the Eastern Black Sea Region to protest against the official 17-lira tea purchase price. When reactions grew, on 22 May, the “Great Tea Rally” was organized in the Fındıklı district of Rize province.

Farmers also held roadblock actions with tractor convoys in many cities in the Aegean, Black Sea, Marmara, Central Anatolia and Southeastern Anatolia regions.

In August, farmers once again held roadblock actions across the country. Farmers in Bursa blocked the İzmir-Bursa motorway on 8 August, farmers in Maraş blocked the Maraş-Antep motorway on 17 August, farmers in Aksaray blocked the Aksaray-Adana E90 motorway on 18 August, and farmers in Uşak blocked the Uşak-İzmir motorway on 24 August. An action was held in Batman on 25 August in front of the Turkish Grain Board.

On 18 August, a group that call themselves the “Eskişehir Genç Rençberler/Eskişehir Young Farmers” drove their tractors into an empty field in the Kalkanlı Neighbourhood of Odunpazarı, and wrote “Üretemiyoruz/We Cannot Produce”.

Photograph: DİSK/Nakliyat-İş

Dinçer Logistics Workers

Workers at Dinçer Logistics, a partner of Getir, the rapid on-demand delivery company, went on strike on 26 August, with demands including workplace health and safety, improvement of meals and full employment of subcontracted workers. Following strike action, some workers were dismissed.

Led by DİSK/Nakliyat-İş, the action ended on 28 August in victory with all demands including the reinstatement of dismissed workers being accepted.

Photograph: Anadolu Agency

İzmir Metropolitan Municipality public employees

When negotiations as part of the collective labour agreement meeting between İzmir Metropolitan Municipality (İzBB) and the İzmir Branch 1 of the All Municipal and Local Administrative Service Workers Union (Tüm Bel-Sen) of the KESK Confederation broke down, workers took strike action on 13 June 2024.

Following a two-month long struggle, a collective labour agreement covering 6 thousand 150 public workers and contract workers was signed on 14 August. However, there was a serious grassroots reaction since the offer rejected by the workers themselves was signed following a majority-decision taken by the union board.

Photograph: Bağımsız Maden İş/X

Fernas mineworkers

Workers dismissed because they became members of Bağımsız Maden-İş while working for Fernas Mining, a company in the Soma district of Manisa province that belongs to AKP member of parliament Ferhat Nasıroğlu, began their resistance on 26 August with demands including reinstatement and improvement of work conditions.

On 25 August, the workers began their march from Soma to Ankara, and a sit-in at Kurtuluş Park on 2 October. Following a 53-day action and three days of negotiations, a deal was signed between the Fernas workers and the company administration on 20 October 2024.

(VC/NHRD)