BBC Turkish to go on strike

* Photo: TGS

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

The collective bargaining between the Journalists' Union of Turkey (TGS) and the İstanbul office of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has ended in a deadlock. The employees of the BBC İstanbul office have decided to go on strike in the face of this deadlock.

TGS Chair Gökhan Durmuş hung the decision of strike on the office door of BBC Turkish in İstanbul's Gümüşsuyu today (December 7).

Speaking after announcing the strike, TGS Chair Gökhan Durmuş said that the attitude of the employer to an agreement during the bargaining process has made the strike inevitable. He briefly added:

"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."

Noting that the employees of the BBC İstanbul office cannot benefit from some of the basic rights offered to employees working in other BBC offices around the world, Gökhan Durmuş stated the following:

"Our requests are reasonable and affordable. It is possible for the BBC to meet these demands without taking on an additional burden. Since last January, the pound has gained value by 80 percent against Turkish Lira. In other words, the boss of the BBC has a 80-percent profit. What has started the strike process is the irreconcilable attitude of the BBC employer. We, as the TGS, make our last call to the BBC employer today. Otherwise, we want it to be known that a strike will be inevitable."

NUJ expresses support

Organized at the BBC, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has also expressed its support for the journalists on social media:

#NUJ message for Turkish Journalists Union (TGS) Yaşasın dayanışma! #BBCyeUnion @TGS_org_tr pic.twitter.com/dlaStVN5Ft

— NUJ (@NUJofficial) December 7, 2021

BBC: We are ready to negotiate

In response to the question of BBC Turkish, the Spokesperson for the BBC has made a statement and briefly said the following:

"We understand the financial concerns of our employees in İstanbul; for this reason, we offered pay rises and additional benefits.

"Moreover, we have been observing the developments in the mechanisms in effect to support our employees in the face of negative effects of the changing foreign exchange rates in volatile markets.

"We are ready to continue negotiating; we are sorry for the possibility that a possible strike will affect our readers and viewers of the Turkish language service in accessing accurate and unbiased news." (HA/SD)