Subcontracted workers halt work at Turkey's state postal service

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Subcontracted workers at the state postal and cargo service halt work in İstanbul this morning (October 6).

Workers at the PTT's distribution centers in Kartal and Maltepe districts on İstanbul's Asian side stated that they protest because they were underpaid and their payrolls were not given to them.

PTT Kargo-Sen union's Organization Officer Ayşe Büşra Yılmaz told bianet that a subcontractor company named Saf-Avrasya Ordinary Partnership won the PTT's tender on July 31 and the problems started.

Saf-Avrasya Adi Ortaklığı, 31 Temmuz'da PTT'nin ihalesini kapılı kapılar ardında kazandı. Sonra ne mi oldu? Taşeron işçilerin maaşlarını eksik yatırdı, bordrolarını vermedi, sendikanın yetkisine itiraz etti. İşçiler bugün iş bıraktı.

PTT'nin Marmara'da 6 bin taşeron çalışanı var pic.twitter.com/HTxVwPYz67

— Hikmet Adal (@HikmetAdal) October 6, 2020

As well as the full payment of their salaries and their payrolls, they also want to meet with the company executives, said Yılmaz.

"This was a warning protest. We are preparing to halt work in entire İstanbul," she said, adding that the company that underpays the subcontracted workers has a total of 6,000 employees at PTT in the Marmara Region.

"Not only workers in Marmara, but also other provinces have problems. These are the common problems of about 15,000 workers.

"We have colleagues who were paid below the minimum salary and they don't give us the payrolls. When we ask for it, they don't say, 'We won't give,' but they stall us. If we see the payrolls, we will understand what they deduced from the salaries.

"After the company won the tender on July 31, we organized here and obtained authorization but the company filed an objection against us at the Ministry of Labor and Social Services.

"This was a warning protest. We already hardly survive in the pandemic conditions." (HA/VK)