Warehouse workers at major retail chain Migros have launched strikes across seven provinces to protest a proposed 1% pay raise for 2026, calling it a “misery-level” increase. The walkouts began on Jan 23, starting in Adana and spreading to over 10 warehouses.
Migros, which employs around 63,000 workers nationwide including subcontracted staff, has yet to release its full-year financial report for 2025. However, data from the first three quarters show the company recorded a net profit of approximately 5.6 billion liras (~130 million US dollars).
Striking workers dismissed
Led by the Warehouse, Port, Shipyard and Marine Workers’ Union (DGD-SEN), workers are demanding a net 50% wage increase, employer coverage of income taxes, and an end to subcontracting practices.
On Jan 26, Migros announced through a public disclosure that 7,875 workers had been granted permanent staff status. Days later, 141 workers who remained on strike were dismissed under “Code 49," which refers to “persistent refusal to perform assigned duties.” This allows employers to terminate workers without severance pay or unemployment benefits.
250 resisting workers dismissed from warehouse of Migros market chain
Political parties and youth groups have supported the warehouse workers from the outset, organizing boycott calls and checkout shutdowns at Migros stores across the country to raise awareness of the strike. The workers' demands have also been echoed at many Migros branches.
Protest moves to employer's residence
On Jan 31, the strike moved to the home of Tuncay Özilhan, chair of the Anadolu Group conglomerate, which owns Migros. The demonstration, organized by DGD-SEN, resulted in a heavy police crackdown with nearly 100 people detained.
“Migros warehouse workers are the ones forcing us to question a system that drives the poor into misery,” said Başaran Aksu, a unionist who was among the detained. “Tuncay Özilhan made 9.5 billion liras in profit. If he shared even 500 million with workers, this issue would be resolved. But the conglomerates refuse to share a single penny.”
Solidarity actions
Solidarity demonstrations organized by DGD-SEN are planned across multiple provinces, especially Ankara and İzmir, on Feb 3 and 4. Calls to boycott Migros and shutdown checkout counters at various branches also continue.
On Feb 1, Özgür Aybaş, chair of the Turkey Tobacco Retailers Platform, announced via social media that no Anadolu Group product, including the Efes beer brand, would be sold by vendors until workers' rights are fully restored and their demands met.
Migros admits dismissing resisting workers
Artists have also joined the campaign. Comedian Deniz Göktaş and actor Feride Çetin were among those who shared video messages in support of Migros workers. A statement signed by 656 members of the cultural and arts community was released by DGD-SEN, urging immediate acceptance of the workers’ five demands and recognition of their right to unionize.
Additionally, an academic statement signed initially by 102 scholars was shared by the union. The statement expressed solidarity with the warehouse workers and criticized Turkey’s wider private-sector labor conditions. “This struggle once again reveals the consequences of low-wage, insecure, and non-unionized labor conditions, particularly in the private sector,” it read.
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Opposition questions dismissals in parliament
Cengiz Çiçek, an İstanbul MP from the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party, submitted a parliamentary question directed at Labor and Social Security Minister Vedat Işıkhan, criticizing the use of Code 49 and police violence as means to suppress union activity.
His inquiry raised several issues, including the legal basis for using reverse handcuffs on detained workers, the ministry’s oversight of dismissals linked to union activities, terminations without notifying the Social Security Institution (SGK).
The inquiry also included the accusations against migros of violating freedom to work under articles 117 and 118 of the Turkish Penal Code.
From resistance to victory: Migros workers' protest ends with folk dances
İskender Bayhan, an MP from the Labor Party (EMEP), also submitted a parliamentary question.
“In a country where the hunger threshold has reached 31,224 liras and the poverty line stands at 101,706 liras, a company posting billions in profits forcing poverty wages on its workers is no coincidence,” Bayhan said.
Union suppression
On Feb 1, the 10th day of the strike, Migros issued a second statement under the title “Opportunities provided to our newly hired distribution center employees.”
However, DGD-SEN and Umut-Sen claimed that Migros was reclassifying warehouse workers as retail employees to shift them into a different labor sector, effectively dismantling union representation.
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The sector in question is the “Trade, Office, Education and Fine Arts” labor group (sector No. 10), where the officially recognized union is Tez Koop-İş, a union often criticized as employer-aligned.
“Migros is carrying out a legally questionable operation by transferring workers to sector No. 10,” Umut-Sen said. “This undermines the legal standing of DGD-SEN, which is authorized in sector No. 16, and forces workers into Tez Koop-İş, a yellow union aligned with human resources.”
Union plans further actions
DGD-SEN announced that workers and rights advocates will once again gather outside Özilhan’s residence on Feb 4.
The union also issued a call to women’s organizations, feminists, and solidarity networks. DGD-SEN women demanded public exposure of Migros’s labor practices, solidarity with female warehouse workers, and amplification of voices of women reporting harassment in the workplace. (BHT/TY/VK)
