Workers protest construction company for not paying salaries

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About 250 construction workers who worked at Kayı Construction company's projects in Algeria staged a protest yesterday (January 12) as the company has failed to pay them for nearly two years.

Workers who came to İstanbul from various parts of the country, including Adana, Kayseri and Diyarbakır, gathered in front of the Yapı Kredi Plaza in İstanbul's Beşiktaş district where the office of Coşkun Yılmaz, the owner of the company, is located.

Reading out a statement, the workers said Yılmaz had been stalling them for two years by promising that he would pay their salaries.

The workers also went on a strike in Algeria in late 2019, after they couldn't receive salaries following a currency crisis in Turkey.

Despite an agreement with the company was signed after the strike, the company didn't keep its promise to pay the salaries in March 2020, said the workers.

Noting that the company had been included in the list of top 250 contractors every year since 2007, they said, "But they have no money when it comes to workers."

Several workers spoke at the meeting, saying that they were having financial difficulties. (HA/VK)