"There is strike in this workplace" (by Anadolu Agency)
Click to read the article in Turkish
As the collective bargaining between the Public Services Employees Union of Turkey (Genel-İş), under the umbrella of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), and İstanbul's Maltepe Municipality ended in a deadlock, the workers went on strike six days ago.
As was also the case in İstanbul's Kadıköy Municipality, the head office of the Genel-İş has signed the collective labor agreement. After the decision was announced, workers have ended their strike.
Genel-İş İstanbul Anatolian Side No. 2 Branch, organized within the municipality, has protested the decision of the head office, saying that it disregarded the branch's will in signing the labor contract. The branch has noted that their struggle will continue in workplaces.
Maltepe Mayor Ali Kılıç has also shared a message on Twitter, announcing that the collective labor agreement has been signed.
"According to the agreement, the lowest wage, including premiums, has become 4 thousand 700 lira," he has said, adding that "the legal strike that started on February 23 has ended as of today."
'We wanted our labor's worth'
DİSK Genel-İş Anatolian Side No. 2 Branch Yenigül Özen Dolgun has also spoken to journalists about the latest situation.
Reminding the reporters that the municipal workers went on strike on February 23, she has indicated that they, the union and workers, will continue struggling. Dolgun has indicated that "a perception was created among the public as if they had been demanding very high wages."
"The majority of our friends are working for low wages of 2 thousand 800 lira to 3 thousand 100 lira. We were offered 4 thousand 400 lira. As of yesterday, we were offered 4 thousand 600 lira. We shared it with our friends that we could not accept it," she has added.
Saying that the municipality and the union's branch had six meetings in nearly 6.6 months and could discuss 50 articles in the labor agreement, Dolgun has shared the following information about their talks with the Genel-İş head office before the agreement was signed:
"The executives of our central office said that they could not carry the burden stemming from this perception on behalf of the entire organization and that they would sign the agreement by using initiative.
"They already have the authority to sign the collective agreements. And we said that we would not put our signature under it.
"While everyone is staying home, our fellow workers have waged a face-to-face struggle against the pandemic by collecting the gloves and masks littered by everyone. We demanded our labor's worth."
Further in her statement, Dolgun has indicated that striking workers had a vote after this and shared the following information:
"I said that if the central office officially signed the contract, our process of strike would come to an end; in the event that we continued with the strike, it would mean 'halting work.' And friends said, 'Let's express our will at the ballot box; if it turns out to be 'yes', we will go back to work; if it turns out to be 'no', we will continue with our struggle."
Workers have decided to end the strike
After the workers took a vote, the majority said that the strike should continue. After this vote, the Genel-İş branch representatives made a statement and said that strike was a legal process and this was used, adding that after the collective labor agreement was signed, they no longer had this right. In the event that they continued with the strike, it would mean work stoppage, the representatives said, indicating that it would be more reasonable if the workers ended the strike.
The union's branch representatives told the workers who would start working to go back to work and other workers to go home.
Addressing the reporters, DİSK Genel-İş Anatolian Side No. 2 Branch Yenigül Özen Dolgun said that the 6-day strike came to an end.
Meanwhile it was seen that the workers who had gathered in the municipality's Cleaning Services Construction Site in Gülsuyu Neighborhood dispersed and the cleaning and garbage trucks in the site left.
Strike began 6 days ago
The workers of main opposition CHP's Maltepe Municipality in İstanbul went on strike six days ago as the collective bargaining for a labor contract covering 1,588 municipal workers remained inconclusive.
Workers from the Public Services Employees Union of Turkey (Genel-İş) İstanbul Anatolian Side No. 2 Branch, organized within the municipality, put a sign of strike on the Maltepe Municipality building at night.
Gathering in the municipality's Cleaning Services Construction Site in Gülsuyu Neighborhood, workers chanted slogans and halted work by bringing several garbage trucks and excavators back to the site. (HA/SD)
