ANKARA — Soaring inflation in
Turkey has propelled a
wave of strikes unlike any the country has seen since the 1970s, as workers
demand more money to counter the shrinking value of their pay.
اضافة اعلان
Supermarket warehouse worker Bekir Gok was sacked this month
— alongside 256 of his colleagues — for demanding an extra four Turkish liras
(30 US cents) per hour, the equivalent of a loaf of bread.
However after the workers at the Migros supermarket chain
went on strike, they won back their jobs as well as salary rises and other
demands, giving inspiration to dissatisfied employees across the country.
"We were asking for the price of a loaf of bread! It's
nothing compared to what we've helped them earn since the pandemic began,"
Gok said.
Turkey's annual inflation rate officially reached 48.7
percent in January, and workers have struggled to keep up with the
sky-rocketing cost of living.
Industrial action is rare in Turkey, where the major strikes
that marked the 1970s remain a distant memory for most — a military coup in
1980 led to a crack down on union activities.
However the country has seen more than 60 strikes, factory
occupations, protests and boycott calls involving at least 13,500 workers in
less than two months, according to the independent Labor Studies Group.
One of the most prominent recent strikes was launched on
February 1 by motorcycle couriers for the food delivery company Yemeksepeti
Banabi.
"We put our own lives in danger doing this work. We're
not working in a four-walled office, we deliver packages in snow and
rain," said Izzet Baskin, a 27-year-old delivery worker for the company in
the capital
Ankara.
'No hope left'
His colleague Ferhat Uyar said that "we can't think or
see ahead".
"We have no hope left. We continue this resistance to
try and get ahead of the issues," the 27-year-old said.
After paying his rent and energy bills, Uyar said he is
unable to afford the products he delivers, such as takeaway coffee from
Starbucks.
Yemeksepeti Banabi delivery couriers currently receive 4,253
liras ($305) a month, now the minimum wage after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
increased the rate by 50 percent for 2022.
But the Turk-Is union said last month the poverty level was
13,844 liras. The Banabi workers are on strike demanding less than half that
figure: 5,500 liras.
German company Delivery Hero bought Yemeksepeti Banabi for
$589 million in 2015.
Freight workers' union Nakliyat-Is, which is supporting the
delivery workers on strike across Turkey, said nearly 100 couriers were killed
in the past three months, compared with 190 deaths in all of 2020.
"These are workplaces where there is no supervision of
employees' health or security," the union's Ankara representative Bayram
Karkin said.
To make their demands heard, the riders — instantly
recognisable in their fluorescent pink jackets and helmets — blocked roads with
their motorcycles.
The company then made an overnight administrative change to
officially register the workers under the "office" label rather than
as transport workers, so they could not be members of the Nakliyat-Is union,
Karkin said. There is an ongoing legal case challenging the move.
There were calls on social media for a boycott against
companies accused of ignoring employee demands, and unions say Yemeksepeti
Banabi saw a drop of 70 percent in orders.
The success of delivery workers at
Turkish e-commerce company Trendyol has also inspired many seeking more pay.
After being offered a pay rise of 11 percent, they went on
strike in late January. After three days, they accepted an increase of 39
percent.
New worker 'spring'
Basaran Aksu, the organizing coordinator of the Umut-Sen
union, said this could just be the beginning.
"The results of collective bargaining will come out
soon in April or May, and we'll see a rise in concerns about livelihoods and
the future. I believe this will lead to a rise in workers' movements,"
Aksu told AFP.
Neslihan Acar, of the DGD-Sen union which represents Migros
employees, said that "workers' conditions have deteriorated with the
pandemic".
Migros, which claimed the striking 257 supermarket workers
had "occupied" its warehouses, welcomed back the employees in a
statement after the deal was resolved on Sunday.
Aziz Celik, a labor lecturer at
Kocaeli University, said
workers' protests would continue for as long as the cost of living was high.
"Workers who seek to unionize in the private sector
face a lot of pressure, they are sacked," Celik said.
But despite the difficult conditions, DGD-Sen's Acar was
confident that change is coming.
"Anger is accumulating. The workers will create their
own spring."
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