‘We cannot make ends meet’: Public employees to hold rallies in 4 cities of Turkey

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Amid the 2022 budget talks at Turkey's Parliament, the Confederation of Public Employees Trade Unions (KESK) has announced that it will hold rallies with the slogan "We cannot make ends meet! Shoulder to shoulder for a budget in favor of a humane life, labor and people."

The confederation will be in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır and in the Aegean province of İzmir on December 18 and in İstanbul and in the capital city of Ankara on December 19.

In statements held in Ankara, İstanbul, İzmir and Diyarbakır the other day (November 30), the KESK branches called on all segments of society "to raise their objections and voices together at the rallies".

Ankara: 'Salaries are shrinking'

The statement in Ankara was shared with the public at a press conference in the Education and Science Laborers Union (Eğitim-Sen) No. 2 Branch office. KESK Secretary General for Finance Gönül Kural Şimşek unveiled the confederation's "Program of Struggle".

She stressed that as a result of the government's policies, labor has gotten cheaper and unemployment and precarity have increased. She also raised concerns over the increasing inflation, noting that while the state-run Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announces the inflation rate as 19.89 percent, independent researchers say that it is around 50 percent.

Referring to the increasing foreign exchange rates as well as the increasing inflation rate in Turkey, Kural Şimşek underlined that the increase in their salaries for the year 2022 has already disappeared.

İstanbul

The statement in İstanbul was shared with the public at a press conference in the KESK Şişli building.

Addressing the reporters, KESK Co-Chair Mehmet Bozgeyin emphasized that Turkey is going through an extraordinary period, arguing that "the government has, in a sense, staged an economic coup against labor, laborers, farmers, shopkeepers, women, the youth and people."

"All of us are losing, except for the ones close to the government and a handful of profiteers, opportunists and unearned income seeking capitalists. Every day, we wake up to a day with price increases. We have found ourselves in such a situation that we cannot meet our basic needs."

He said, "They go to armament and war with resources that are not for us. For this reason, peace is the urgent demand of us all."

İzmir and Diyarbakır

While the statement in İzmir was read out at a press conference in the Bureau Laborers Union (BES) Branch, the one in Diyarbakır was shared with the public at a conference in the Eğitim-Sen No. 1 Branch.

In his statement, KESK Secretary General Şenol Köksal said in İzmir that resources are channeled to armament and war. Underlining that they will not pay the price for the crisis that they did not cause, Köksal said that they want the government to resign and a snap election to be held.

KESK Term Spokesperson Nasır Demirkıran in Diyarbakır also said that with the regional rallies that the KESK will hold, they aim to ensure that all segments of society, not only public employees, make their voices heard and express their demands. Demirkıran called on everyone to attend the rallies of the KESK to be held in four regions of Turkey. (TP/SD)

* Source: Mezopotamya Agency (MA)