Second day of health workers’ strike: ‘We struggle for our labor, rights, right to health’

* Photos: TTB

Click to read the article in Turkish

Healthcare workers went on a two-day strike across Turkey on March 14 Doctor's Day and today upon the call of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB), professional medical organizations and labor unions.

Antalya

In Antalya, healthcare workers gathered in front of the Atatürk State Hospital on the second day of their strike action today (March 15) and protested the remarks of President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who targeted physicians in a speech on Women's Day, and the health policies of the AKP government.

Speaking on behalf of healthcare laborers, Health and Social Service Laborers' Union (SES) Antalya Branch Co-Chair Şükran İçöz said:

Your five promises that you called good news on March 14 will never solve the problems of healthcare laborers that have been incrementally increasing so far. We once again say and warn: We don't want to be stalled; we want what is rightfully ours.

"We have tried to express the unjust practices so many times; we have fulfilled strike (duties); but we are now saying 'Enough' to those who turn a deaf ear to us and who ignore us. While we are supposed to celebrate to mark the Doctor's Week, we are once again on duty. And we do it by being threatened, by being told that we cannot strike as it is forbidden.

"We have joined our voices and hearts in the face of all these pressures and attempted bans by prioritizing rights before laws..."

Demands

Healthcare workers have been on strike with the following demands:

• In order to ensure a working environment without violence and in safety, a new and effective "Law on Violence in Healthcare" should be enacted; mobbing and pressures should be ended.
• Not performance-based or additional payments, but a basic wage that will suffice to lead a humane life, that is above the poverty line and that will affect the pensions should be offered.
• There should be an additional indicator by degrees from 3600 to 7200.
• An actual service period (depreciation) of 90 days per year should be fully implemented for all laborers in healthcare.
• Staffed and secured employment in OECD averages should be ensured; subcontracting should be abolished.
• A strong and active primary care health service organization should be ensured; the regulation foreseeing penalties should be abolished.
• The pressures on professional organizations should be abandoned for a free and scientific working environment.

With these demands, several healthcare workers have been on a two-day strike in several provinces across the country, saying out loud, "We struggle for our labor, rights and right to health": 

Diyarbakır

Antep

Batman

İstanbul

İzmir

Manisa

Van

About the health workers' protests

The TTB and medical associations have been staging various "white protests" since 2021, demanding an improvement in their wages, working conditions and employee personal rights among others.

Within this context, as part of its protests with the motto "Our Labor, Our Word", the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) set off on its "White March" on November 23, 2021. The march began in İstanbul and physicians stopped by in the provinces of Kocaeli, Bursa and Eskişehir on their way; they arrived in Ankara on November 27 and held a "White Forum" there.

With the legislative proposal foreseeing improvements in the employee personal rights of physicians and dentists withdrawn at the General Assembly of the Parliament, the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) also announced that a one-day strike would be staged on December 15.

With the strike in effect since the early morning hours, no healthcare services were offered in medical institutions, except for emergency services, dialysis, intensive care services and emergency services for children.

In late January 2022, the TTB, Turkish Dentists' Association (TDB), Health and Social Service Laborers Union (SES), Progressive Health Workers Union (Dev Sağlık-İş), All Radiology Technicians Union (TÜM-RAD-DER) and Social Service Specialists Union (SHUDER) unveiled a new action plan to demand better wages and employee personal rights.

According to the statement of the organizations, healthcare workers would be on call on January 26 - February 4 and on strike on February 8.

Following this strike on February 8, the Turkish Medical Association (TTB) held a press conference on February 22, announcing the further steps to be taken by healthcare workers as part of the "Our Labor, Our Word" action program. Accordingly, the TTB announced that healthcare workers would be on strike on March 14 (Doctor's Day) and March 15, 2022.

In statements on February 24 and March 2, 2022, the TTB reiterated its demands ahead of the 2-day strike in mid-March.

On the first day of the strike on March 14 Doctor's Day, the members of the İstanbul Medical Chamber, affiliated with the TTB, were not allowed to lay wreaths on Taksim Square to mark the Doctor's Day.

In a statement a day later, the TTB denounced the police violence, which also caused 89-year-old retired physician Dr. Erdinç Köksal to fall to the ground, and said: "This intervention is against our profession". (AÖ/SD)