Wave of Workers Actions in Turkey
In December 2021 the oppressive regime announced the new minimum wage for 2022 with the propaganda that they made a very high increase. At that moment the inflation rate were announced as 22% with rigged data and calculations, and the real rate was estimated to be higher than 80%. And the hike for the minimum wage was 39%. But the government presented it as 50% again with dodgy calculations. They argued that they never let workers suffer under inflation and that they made quite a good improvement on workers’ wages. But the purchasing power of the new minimum wage came to be much lesser that the one in 2021. After the announcement of the new minimum wage, collective bargaining process of metal workers was completed and they got 46% increase on average on a yearly basis. And in all industries bosses announced low wage increases.
The inflation rate rose to 114% in January which meant a much less purchasing power for the minimum wage. Türk-İş (largest labour confederation) announced the starvation line for a 4-member family as 4249 TRY, and the poverty line as 13,844 TRY. And the newly increased minimum wage is 4250 TRY which is received by workers only in February! It is estimated that 70% of workers now will be working on minimum wage in Turkey. What this means is clear: the new minimum wage has become equal to the starvation line before it is received by the workers. Current wages are far below the level of meeting the minimum needs of workers, which means that the working class in Turkey has been driven into a dreadful pit of poverty. That is the reason why, after the outrageous price hikes in electricity, natural gas and oil, which meant a 2-3 fold rise in bills, labourers got into rage.
Both the regime and the capitalist class thought, and still think, that unorganised workers would remain silent in face of imposition of low wages, and even they could further lower the wages. The regime calls on the foreign capital to invest in Turkey in an effort to market Turkey as the “new China”. They are right in that the minimum wage has gone under Chinese level in terms of dollar. But the accumulated anger of workers exploded at a time when the rulers did not expect it. With the first week of January came first actions in the form of unofficial strikes and factory occupations. And in the first week of February workers started protests against low wages in many industries including metal industry, mining, health, food, textile, logistics, ports etc. With work stoppages, unofficial strikes, factory occupations and protests, they are fighting for a decent increase in wages.
Apart from low wages, workers also react against suppressing of union rights, worsening working conditions, precarity, subcontracting, compulsory and unpaid overtime, firing of combative workers. While unionised workers demand an update in their collective contracts, non-unionised workers fight for getting unionised. Logistics workers and motorcycle delivery workers demand an end to being employed as self-employed deliverymen and work as unionised workers. Health workers demand an end to violence and forced labour. Power workers react against electricity bills. Many working people take to the streets in a number of cities and towns…
The rising wave of struggle, particularly the struggle of metal workers, showed once again the fear, intolerance and brutality of the regime and capital. Farplas workers who stopped work, occupied the factory faced an attack by the police with tear gas bombs, rubber bullets, and drones. While the factory was surrounded by the police, hundreds of workers and union officials were arrested, and many of them were fired. But, despite severe repression, workers’ actions keep spreading. For what happens today has a greater significance than reacting simply against imposition of miserable wages, it is a reflection of the transformation in society and a desire for change, anger and discontent being accumulated for long.
In the years after the 12 September 1980 military fascist coup workers in Turkey suffered great losses in terms of their rights. The coup was carried out to suppress the rising struggle of the working class along with its growing organising. The offensive against the rights of the working class has been stepped up in the years under AKP rule. And during the pandemic new attacks and an increased repression came with Covid-19 used as excuse. In this climate, workers’ struggles for their rights retreated. But society is undergoing a substantial change in many respects. More than 90% of the population is now living in towns with a great deal of proletarianisation. Women are coming to the front in every aspect of social life and they seek to improve their rights and freedoms. A considerable part of the near-10 million unemployed are now young people with university degree. Millions of them are worried about their future. The impoverishment of recent years spread to all sections of the working class, shopkeepers, and farmers. This is very different from the past and bringing about political-social consequences. Therefore the regime is striving with no success for preventing the rising anger and discontent through lies, deceptions, divisive politics, and repression. The luxury and extravagancy the rulers keep living in aggravates the anger with a sharper awareness of growing social inequality and corruption. A growing number of workers have come to understand that the only way out in face of the offensive against workers’ rights is to organise and fight, which is also expressed in an increase in the number of strikes and attempts at unionising.
There is an anti-worker, oppressive totalitarian regime at work in Turkey. Workers actions are important in that they show the accumulated discontent and anger is coming to surface and the importance of strengthening the organised front of labour. It is also clear that these struggles will push unions towards a more combative attitude. The working class can lift itself to a political force only if it is organised and when the organised front of labour is forged, and then it can intervene in the social process. Based on these facts, UID-DER is working to bring together all sections of the working class, students, labouring women, retired people etc. around their common problems and demands. It strives to strengthen the organising and solidarity of the working class.
Long live the organised struggle of the working class!
Long live the international unity and solidarity of the working class in struggle!
