In Turkish politics, we sometimes encounter such a picture that politics, trade unionism and “social democracy” One doesn't know whether to laugh or cry as the concept becomes hollow.
The scene before us is a case in point: The fired CHP worker, the firing CHP municipality and the AK Party listening to the worker's problems.
Yes, you did not read it wrong. This is not a joke, but the bitter reality of labor in today's Turkey.
Law on Paper, Workers on the Doorstep
In municipalities that define themselves as “social democratic”, unionized workers are being shown the door. Workers go to court, win their cases; the judiciary clearly “Reinstatement” he says. But for some reason, the much-vaunted rule of law cannot enter the municipal gates. Court decisions are not implemented, the law remains on paper and workers are kept waiting outside the gates for years.
The real question to be asked here is this: When the lawlessness is so blatant, that “revolutionary” Why are the unions silent?
Are unions organized under the umbrella of the same branch focused on internal power calculations instead of defending the rights of workers? The lack of a determined line of resistance against dismissals proves that political balances, not labor, are taken into consideration. However, the alphabet of trade union struggle is clear: Workers' rights cannot be sacrificed to any political calculations!
One in the Square, Another at the Table: The TurkStat Paradox
The contradiction is not limited to this. They shout in unison in the squares and on the screens: “TurkStat figures do not reflect the reality, they are deceiving the public!”
From Beşiktaş to Sarıyer, from Kartal to Kadıköy; in the square “lie” The so-called TurkStat figures are accepted as the sole criterion for valuing the sweat of the worker's brow. On the one hand, the worker “these figures are fake” on the one hand, and forcing people to live with those false figures on the other, is to institutionalize poverty.
If the words spoken in the square are swallowed at the table, there can be no talk of a labor struggle, only a theater.
A Hot Summer is Coming: Sounds of Strikes and Resistance
Now a new collective bargaining period is approaching. As the fire of the cost of living grows, those who want to confine the worker to the narrow corridors of official inflation should know that this period will not be an ordinary process.
Working people now clearly demand three things:
Honesty: Don't put the figures you criticize in the square in front of us at the table.
Law: It is not enough just to win court decisions, implement them!
Consistency: “Carry the label ”social democrat" if it has a meaning in the lives of workers.
Our Story Honorable
What did we do? We didn't just talk.
We went to the Grand National Assembly and told them about the resistance.
We raised our voices in front of the CHP Headquarters.
As Beşiktaş workers, we shouldered the honorable struggle of the women workers in Çiğli.
Because solidarity is not an empty slogan thrown from the rostrum; it is the will to stand side by side in times of difficulty. As the late Bülent Ecevit said: “If you have an honest story, no one can buy you.”
Our story is an honest one. We have fought for labor; we are neither the companions of Aziz İhsan nor the confessing Ozans and Ertans. We refuse to be part of the equations they set up. Whatever the cost, we will continue to walk with the peace of mind of standing on the right side of history and labor. This test will either be passed in favor of the working people or this summer will be remembered not only for its heat but also for the explosion of the accumulated anger.
Can Firat Acisu