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Glass workers in Turkey continue to fight for their rights

Glass workers reacting to the ban on strikes are demonstrating in 9 factories and workplaces of Şişecam in order to protest the ban decision.

Glass workers in Turkey continue to fight for their rights

Thousands of workers employed in Şişecam, the biggest glass manufacturer in Europe, continue to stop work and demonstrate against the ban on strikes and for their demands.
Contract talks concerning some 5,700 workers which started in December 2016 between the Şişecam boss and Kristal-İş Union representing the glass workers broke down recently and as a result, the union took a decision to strike at the beginning of May.

ERDOĞAN GOVERNMENT HAS BANNED THE STRIKE

As the preparations for the strike commenced, in line with a decision undersigned first by the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan himself, the workers have been proscribed by the Turkish Government from going to strike. With this decision taken by the Cabinet of Ministers with the pretext of being “detrimental to national security,” the number of bans of the glass workers’ strike by the Erdoğan government reached a 4th time.

DEMONSTRATIONS BREAK OUT IN 9 FACTORIES

Glass workers reacting to the ban on strikes are demonstrating in 9 factories and workplaces in order both to protest the ban decision but also for addressing of their demands. Workers talking about the economic hardship they are suffering have stated: “We all live in debt. The situation is so dire that some of us have second jobs. What we want is to catch our breath in living conditions which are continuously deteriorating. How are we threatening national security by demanding these? This is not a matter of security. With this decision the AKP government has delivered a definitive message to the workers. It showed that it is united with the bosses against workers. Workers who have supported AKP in some way also confronted this face of AKP once again. The person who stands at the highest point in this country stood with the boss. The laws are their laws, and they are not in our interest.”

FLOUTING THE BAN BY STOPPING WORK

The glass workers for the last 8 days have not been leaving their factories for 8 hours after their 8 hour shifts ends. In each shift the workers stop working for one and half hours. They also make this call to the trade unions they have been a member since beginning to demonstrate to take this decision: “Let’s stop production as a whole to win.” (EVRENSEL DAILY)


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