BBC Turkish goes on strike on January 14

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The ongoing collective bargaining for a collective labor agreement between the Journalists' Union of Turkey (TGS) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Turkish has ended in a deadlock.

As the sides have been unable to reach an agreement since December 7, when the employees announced that they would strike, the decision hung on the office door will be executed tomorrow (January 14).

The TGS has posted a video on its social media account showing the preparations for the strike: "Preparations complete! As the BBC employer has turned a deaf ear to the requests of the İstanbul office and has not come to the table with a reasonable offer despite our all constructive efforts, we will go on strike on January 14, Friday. We will get what is our right."

Hazırlıklar tamam!

BBC işvereni, İstanbul bürosunda çalışanların taleplerine kulak tıkadığı ve tüm yapıcı çabalarımıza rağmen masaya makûl bir öneriyle gelmediği için 14 Ocak Cuma greve çıkıyoruz. Hakkımızı alacağız! #BBCdeGrevVar pic.twitter.com/5mvC0A8KPG

— Gazeteciler Sendikası (@TGS_org_tr) January 11, 2022

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the UNI Global Union have expressed their support for the BBC employees who will go on strike. They have both given messages of solidarity. The IFJ has said, "We solidarize with our colleagues and friends at BBC İstanbul."

Speaking after announcing the strike on December 7, TGS Chair Gökhan Durmuş said that the employer's attitude to an agreement during the bargaining process made the strike inevitable:

"We demand that the wages of BBC employees be arranged in such a way that their purchasing power is maintained. The pay rise introduced by the employer in 2020 was well below the inflation rate. They are now offering a 14-percent rise to the gross wages. In an environment where the official inflation rate is 21 percent, one cannot expect that we accept this offer." (HA/SD)