President postpones metal workers' strike in Kocaeli

Photo: Birleşik Metal-İş/Twitter

Click to read the article in Turkish / Kurdish

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has postponed a strike organized by metal workers in Kocaeli, northwestern Türkiye, for 60 days.

The reason for the postponement was that the strike was of "nature disruptive to national security," according to a decree published today (January 24) in the Official Gazette.

The postponement effectively means a ban as the workers and the employer fail to reach an agreement within 60 days, the workers won't be able to resume the strike, according to No. 6356 Unions and Collective Bargaining Law.

The Birleşik Metal-İş union had declared that on January 23, it would launch a strike with the participation of about 2,000 workers from 11 factories belonging to five separate businesses.

Four companies agreed to raise hourly wages by 91 percent in the first half of the year and 18 percent in the second half, and to raise social rights payments by 100 percent.

Schneider Enerji was the only company that refused to agree, and the president postponed its workers' strike.

Postponed strikes in the AKP era

Since Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, the government has postponed 19 strikes for various reasons, including protecting national security, public health, financial stability and public transportation:

• 2003 Petlas A.Ş. 350 workers
• 2003 Şişecam 5.000 workers
• 2004 Şişecam 5000 workers
• 2004 Pirelli, Good Year, Brisa 5.000 workers
• 2005 Erdemir Madencilik AŞ 400 workers
• 2014 Şişecam 5.800 workers
• 2014 Çayırhan ve Çöllolar Kömür İşletmesi 1.500 workers
• 2015 MESS Grup TIS 15.000 workers
• 2017 (OHAL) Asil Çelik 600 workers
• 2017 (OHAL) EMIS Grup TIS kapsamı 2.200
• 2017 (OHAL) Akbank 14.000 workers
• 2017 (OHAL) Şişecam 6.500 workers
• 2017 (OHAL) Mefar İlaç 500 workers
• 2018 (OHAL) MESS Grup TIS 130.000 bin workers
• 2018 (OHAL) Soda Kromsan-Şişecam 890 workers
• 2019 İzban 342 workers
• 2020 Soda Sanayii AŞ 557 workers
• 2022 Bekaert Çelik Kord Sanayi 400 workers
• 2022 Bekaert Çelik Kord Sanayi 560 workers

(HA/VK)