Current Union Struggles

In recent times, a significant increase has been observed in the influence of small, combative unions—operating outside the major confederations—among the working class in Turkey’s current union struggles. With the number of workers participating in strikes led by these combative unions—which we have covered in this and previous issues—reaching around 10,000, BİRTEK-SEN (United Textile Workers Union) President Mehmet Türkmen and Bağımsız Maden-İş (Independent Mine Workers Union) organizing specialists Başaran Aksu and Doğukan Akan have been arrested on charges of “spreading false information,” using their speeches exposing workers’ conditions as a pretext. On the other hand, the arrest of militant union leaders who view the prison as no different from a factory will not stop either the militant union movement or the rising workers’ struggles.

Polyak Mining Strike

In İzmir’s Kınık district, where the combative Bağımsız Maden İş (Independent Mining Workers’ Union) is organized, 1,243 workers at Polyak Mining began a work stoppage due to reasons such as wages not being paid in full and on time, unpaid back wages, and the failure to ensure occupational health and safety. On the 11th day of the action, when workers attempted to enter the mine, the gendarmerie intervened; three workers and Bağımsız Maden İş organizing specialist Başaran Aksu were detained, and workers were sprayed with pressurized water and pepper spray. However, a group of workers and union officials managed to enter the mine. As a result, an agreement was reached with the company; according to information from the union, the workers’ wages were deposited into their accounts, production at the mine was suspended for three months, and the employer pledged to gradually rehire the 620 workers who wish to return to the mine if it reopens.

Teachers

Following a failed attempt in Urfa the previous day, the bloody school massacre in Maraş in April resulted in the deaths of around 10 students and one teacher and triggered the most effective teachers’ strike in recent years took place at the call of the combative Private Teachers’ Union, which operates outside the other confederations, and Eğitim Sen (Education and Science Workers Union - KESK). Teachers also staged protests in front of Ministry of National Education offices in many provinces under the slogan “We don’t want to die.” Eğitim Sen, which carried both legitimate class-based reactions and the influence of the opportunist left, called for the resignation of the Minister of National Education. This slogan not only reduced this horrific massacre—caused by capitalist society and alienation—to a single individual but also harbored the illusion that replacing that person with another like them would make any difference.

Other Struggles

185 workers dismissed from Mersin International Port Operations and the subcontractor Özgüneş Transportation for being members of TÜMTİS (All Transport Workers Union - Turk-İş) have been on strike in front of the port for nearly two months. Workers, whose shifts can last 10–12 hours, are forced to work like slaves for up to 20 hours when there is a lot of work, and when there is little work, they are sent home without receiving that day’s wages. The employer fired the workers—many of whom suffer from back, neck, or groin hernias or respiratory illnesses due to working conditions—claiming he “couldn’t secure a contract.”

Workers at GM Teknik Cam Endüstri ve Ticaret—which supplies glass to companies like Bosch, Gümüşdağ, Franke, and its own group company Silverline—and who are members of Kristal-İş (Glass, Cement, Ceramic and Soil Workers Union - Turk-İş), have been on strike for approximately 230 days after the employer offered 32,205 lira in response to their demand of 36,250 lira in the collective bargaining agreement. Throughout this process, workers—who have faced pressure from management to end the strike and had workers brought in from outside the city to replace them—continue their resistance.