beIN Media Turkey registers journalists as 'marine workers' to prevent unionization

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Employees of Digiturk, a leading satellite TV provider in Turkey, protested the low wage hikes in front of the company's building in Ayazağa, İstanbul, on Monday (February 1).

Yesterday, the employees held a protest in front of the company's headquarters in Beşiktaş district. Applauding for 10 minutes in protest of their employers, the employees said they don't want to be "crushed under the inflation."

Turkey's official annual inflation rate was 48 percent in January, the highest in two decades.

The company raised the salaries of its employees by 3 to 17 percent this year. The wage rises were 8 percent in 2018, 10 percent in 2019 and 7 percent in 2020, sources from the company told bianet.

Digitürk, which is owned by the Qatar-based beIN Media Group, actually consists of five different companies, said the sources. The main company, Krea Content Services and Production Inc., has 900 employees and its employees are registered in the "marine sector" rather than the "publication, broadcast and journalism sector."

The other four companies have between 15 and 100 employees and they are too registered in different sectors such as "trade, office, education and fine arts," according to the sources.

The purpose of this practice is to prevent the unionization of journalists and there has been no union activity in the company for years, they said.

The sale of Digitürk

Digitürk was founded in 1999 by Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, the chair of the Çukurova Holding. It started broadcasting in 2000.

The Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) seized the company in 2013 because of the debt of the holding and sold it to beIN Media in 2015.

The platform has over 200 TV channels and owns the broadcasting rights of the Turkish Super League, as well as several other sports events, including the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, the Premier League, Ligue 1 and the Wimbledon tournament. (HA/VK)