Metal workers on the way to Ankara for their right to unionize
* Photo: United Metal Workers' Union
Click to read the article in Turkish
After the police barricades were removed, the workers of Özer Electricity, Systemair HSK and Baldur factories in Gebze, an industrial town in Kocaeli, set off for to the capital city of Ankara today (November 25).
The metal workers have been protesting on the grounds that they were either dismissed without severance pay or put on unpaid leave by their employers as they had joined the United Metal Workers' Union.
While 109 people were briefly detained yesterday (November 24) when they attempted to march to Ankara, the police barricades have been removed today. After marching for around 500 meters on the D-100 Highway, they have got on a bus and headed for the capital city.
Before the metal workers set off, a press statement was held in front of the union's Gebze Branch. In addition to workers and union representatives, the statement was also attended by representatives from the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK) and political parties including the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and Labor Party (EMEP).
Serdaroğlu: The whole world watched it
United Metal Workers' Union Chair Adnan Serdaroğlu addressed the crowd before the departure. "We wanted to go to Ankara on behalf of the aggrieved workers to voice their troubles," Serdaroğlu said. Denouncing the intervention of the security forces, he said, "The governor did not come to us or ask us about our troubles; he sent the gendarmerie instead."
"You are encouraging the ones doing illegal work. You make people suffer just because 20 people will talk about their troubles. Yesterday, the whole world watched the scenes that unfolded here," he added.
Indicating that a compromise was reached under certain conditions, Serdaroğlu said that they would still hold their march.
Çerkezoğlu: Bosses encouraged by government
DİSK Chair Arzu Çerkezoğlu also delivered a speech. Emphasizing the rightful struggle of the workers, she said, "Bosses are encouraged by the government while they are doing these unjust acts."
Stressing that joining a union is the most basic legal and constitutional right, Çerkezoğlu noted that preventing this right constitutes a crime.
"We are calling on the ones who govern the country: It is not the workers that you have to barricade, but the bosses who punish them," Çerkezoğlu said.
20 workers chosen as representatives
Following the press statement, 20 metal workers set off for Ankara on behalf of the dismissed workers. After the police barricades were removed, workers took to the D-100 Highway, walked for around 500 meters and got on a bus to head for the capital.
DİSK Chair Arzu Çerkezoğlu, United Metal Workers' Union Chair Adnan Serdaroğlu and union executives accompanied the workers to the bus.
Dün polis şiddetiyle durdurulup göz altına alınan metal işçileri, bugün Ankara yolunda ... pic.twitter.com/e6O50VL1MZ
— BİRLESİK METAL-İŞ (@BirlesikMetal) November 25, 2020
What happened?
Dismissed from their jobs without any severance pay or put on unpaid leave on the grounds that they became the members of United Metal Workers' Union, the workers of Systemair HSK, Özer Electricity and Baldur factories wanted to hold a protest march from Gebze, an industrial town in Kocaeli, to the capital city of Ankara on November 24, 2020.
United Metal Workers' Union Chair Adnan Serdaroğlu made a statement and said, "Our problem is not with fellow police officers. We are trying to claim our dismissed friends, we are trying to raise awareness against employers." Adding that "they rightly wanted to march," he also said that "it was not them, but the police officers who were violating the pandemic rules."
Police attacked the march, detaining 109 people, including workers and union executives and the members and representatives of other unions and political parties who were there to support the workers.
Making a statement after the police intervention, the United Metal Workers' Union announced that they would once again meet in front of the Gebze Branch of the union at 10 next day (November 25), expressing their determination to march to the capital city of Ankara.
On the other side, before the workers' protest, the Governor's Office of Kocali released a statement and banned meetings, demonstrations and marches to take place in Kocaeli for 30 days by referring to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as the reason for the ban.
Accordingly, citing the Article 17 of the Law no. 2911 on Meetings and Demonstrations, the Governor's Office of Kocaeli has banned protest demonstrations and open-air meetings from 12 a.m. on November 22 to 12 a.m. on December 21 "with the aim of curbing the spread of the disease." (HA/SD)