* Photo: TGS
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It has been two years since 45 journalists, who are also the members of the Journalists' Unions of Turkey (TGS), were dismissed from daily Hürriyet, which was purchased by the Demirören Media Group a short while ago, based on "the operational decision of its executive board."
As the journalists were unable to get their compensation, they filed a personal action against the daily, which continued at the İstanbul 40th Labor Court at Bakırköy Courthouse earlier yesterday (September 27).
The dismissed journalists, their lawyers and the TGS executives made a press statement in front of the courthouse before the hearing.
Struggling for their rights, journalists opened banners of, "We want justice now. Justice that protects the worker, not the boss or palace. Give us our due. Our money has become worthless, justice right now."
Making a speech in front of the courthouse, TGS Chair Gökhan Durmuş said, "We want justice, only justice... Justice that does not protect the bosses, but the elbow grease of laborers... We want our right."
Durmuş underlined that the right to unionization, a constitutional right, became a reason for dismissal, but the institutions authorized to protect the constitution are mere onlookers to what has been happening.
"Those who are mere onlookers to the bosses' trampling on laws are a party to this injustice," said TGS Chair Durmuş, adding, "Becoming members of our union to work in better conditions, get a better wage and have job safety, the employees of Hürriyet newspaper were dismissed with the 'operation reasons' cited as the reason for the dismissal."
'Cylinder distributor shown as expert'
Further in his statement, Gökhan Durmuş indicated that in place of the 45 people who had been dismissed, 200 people working at the other companies of the Demirören Group, including senior executives, were shown as if they had been hired by Hürriyet newspaper.
According to Durmuş's statement, "a person who was working as a mechanical engineer and regional director at the Likidgaz company and earning a monthly salary of 19 thousand lira was shown as if he had been a minimum wage earning lorry driver at Hürriyet's printing house."
Sharing several other similar examples, TGS Chair Gökhan Durmuş said, "Do you know what these people have in common? They work full time in all their jobs. They are so skilled that they can simultaneously work as an HR manager and at the printing houses in İstanbul and İzmir."
Durmuş noted that all these incidents were in the file of the case with their documents. Concluding his remarks, he said, "In the face of these irregularities that were done so openly, so obviously, the authorization of our union has been seized; they are merely looking. 45 people have been dismissed; they are merely looking. We want justice, only justice. Justice to protect not the bosses, but the elbow grease of laborers..." (HA/SD)
