İzmir Suburban Railways Strike Stopped by Presidential Decree
* Photograph: AA / Archive
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Strike of the İZBAN (İzmir Suburban Systems Inc.) workers was postponed by a Presidential Decree today (January 8). 342 workers of the İzmir's suburban railways system have been on strike since December 10.
In the decree which has been published on the Official Gazette, it has been stated, "It has been decided that the strike which is being staged by the Railway Workers Union of Turkey in the workplaces affiliated with the İZBAN shall be postponed for 60 days in accordance with the 63rd Article of the Law No. 6356 on Unions and Collective Agreement on the ground that the strike is of the nature of disrupting the public transportation services in the city."
Had the strike not been banned, İZBAN workers would have a vote about the last offer which was made by the administration, the daily Evrensel reported.
According to the Law No. 6356, which was referred to in the decree, the İZBAN strike will be finished.
The law gives the President the right to postpone strikes for 60 days. During this period, a mediator is assigned to work for a solution. In the event that a solution cannot be reached within this time, parties can appeal to the High Committee of Arbitrators within six days.
If the mediation process which began after the postponement of the İZBAN strike does not yield any results, the last decision will be made by the High Committee of Arbitrators and the workers' right to strike will be lost.
What happened?
The İZBAN workers began the strike in İzmir on December 10, 2018 after their demands for wage raises were not accepted. Most of the train services in the city were canceled.
In a statement that it released a day before the strike began, İZBAN, a joint company of The State Railways of the Republic of Turkey (TCDD) and İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, claimed that the workers demanded a 65 percent pay rise and did not step back from their demand. İZBAN stated that it offered a 22 percent rise, plus travel and meal allowances.
After the strike began, the parties met for numerous times but an agreement was not reached.
On December 27, İZBAN made a statement, saying that it increased its offer to a 26 percent rise, but canceled it after the offer was rejected by the workers. The minimum wage for an İZBAN worker would be 3,694 TRY (~680 USD), according to the statement.
The İzmir Branch of the Railway Workers Union of Turkey (Demiryol-İş) released a statement on its website in response to the İZBAN. It contradicted İZBAN's statement by saying that the pay rise offered by the company was actually 16 percent, not 26.
The union said that if the İZBAN "really pays what it officially declared on December 27, this strike would not continue for another five minutes."
Erdoğan: The incidents called strikes are no more in our era
On December 30, Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), which holds the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality.
He said, "In our era, the incidents which are called strikes are no more. There is a strike in İzmir at the İZBAN. Come on, why don't you resolve this? It is the CHP, strikes are in their logic. CHP means suffering. But we did not make our people suffer." (OI/EKN/VK)