26,000 Telecommunication Workers Strike in Turkey

[Leo]

The Strike At Türk Telekom

The Real Political Issue in Turkey Today

The current strike of 26.000 telecommunication workers at Türk Telecom demonstrates clearly what the real political issues are in Turkey for the working class today. While the Government tries to raise interest in the referendum, and its continual wars in the South East, the working class has posed the question very clearly. For us the real issue in Turkey today is workers’ salaries.
The representatives of the bourgeoisie are very clear on this point. If anybody has missed it, Paul Doany, CEO of Türk Telekom spells it out ‘No employee can expect an increase above inflation’. What they mean by this is that they would like every employee to receive an increase below inflation, and this means that every employee receives a pay cut.

The real issue today is whether workers organised together can try to stop the continual attacks on living conditions that have taken place over the last ten years. For the communists, and for all workers this is the most important issue today.

Slanders Against Workers From All Sides

Of course everyone expects that the capitalist papers will attack the workers. There will continue to be stories in the press like the one about the sad death of Aysel Tosun [1]. One of the things that we do find strange though is how political commentators can get so upset about one death when enthusiastically supporting the preparations for war in the South East.

What many will not be expecting is the language coming from ‘their’ union leaders. Ali Akçan, President of Haber-İs [2] was quick to join the owners in condemnation of workers’ acts of sabotage “This is slander. Our union has nothing to do with any of these incidents. Let them find those responsible, and we will punish them together”. The strike is but a few days old, and already the unions are offering to act alongside the police in attacking militant workers. For us the issue is clear, we support the struggles of the working class to defend its living conditions, and if that means cutting a few telephone cables that means cutting a few telephone cables. Those who run to join the management in condemning workers are showing whose side they are on.

Whose side are the unions on?

The question is whether we should find ourselves surprised by the position of ‘our’ leaders. After all of the militant talk last year, the only action for coming from KESK [3] was one day of ‘not working’. The unions see their role as one of promoting social peace, and submission to the bosses. At the end of the THY [4] strike Salih Kılıç said that “I am honored to put my signature under this contract“. Oğuz Satıcı, chairman of Turkish Exporters Assembly expressed the position of the capitalists perfectly “Wisdom and conscious won, Turkey got the best”. We say that after a decade of defeat it is time for workers in this country to stop putting Turkey first, and to start to put their own living conditions first. When the bosses say that “Turkey got the best”, they mean that the Turkish bourgeoisie got the best. And that means that the workers got screwed. Anyone who is ‘honoured’ to sign the documents confirming this is a class enemy.

The Way Forward

If workers can’t trust their ‘own’ trade unions who can they trust. The answer is similar to that old nationalist proverb. The only friend of the worker is another worker. Workers at Telecom must form committees to control their own strike, and not leave it in the hands of the unions, who will be ‘honoured’ to sell them to the bosses. Many workers across Turkey want to struggle. The willingness of THY, and Public employees to fight was shown earlier this year. Today Telekom workers stand proudly at the head of the Turkish working class. It is up not only to them but also to all workers to make sure that they don’t stand alone. We say to support Telekom strikers, all workers must fight against wage cuts in real terms at their own workplaces.

-Enternasyonalist Komünist Sol

1 A woman who allegedly died because of the strike
2 The Main Telecommunication Workers Union
3 The Leftist Public Workers Union
4 Turksih Airlines

[Devrim]

Latest comment on the recent Telekom Strike from Gece Notları (left communist monthly publication in Turkey):

Victory at Türk Telekom

The massive strike by over 26,000 Türk Telekom workers is over. After 44 days the strikers went back to work. At 1,100,000 working days lost it makes it the biggest strike in Turkish history after the 1991 miners strike. It is time to draw up a balance sheet of the events.

The first and most important lesson to be learned from this is that workers can protect their living conditions by struggling. Türk Telekom’s original offer of 4% was well below the forecasted end of year inflation figure of 7.7%. In effect Türk Telekom was offering a pay cut to its workers.

The settlement of 10% for this year, and 6.5% plus inflation next year is certainly a massive victory. Following shortly after THY workers winning a 10% increase by only threatening to strike, it gives a clear message to all workers in Turkey today. The only way to protect salaries against inflation is by unity, and collective action.

It shows a clear way forward for all other workers and especially public employees who have been offered an insulting 2%+2% by the government. All pay rises that are less than inflation are pay cuts. In many ways the public sector is the most important sector in Turkey. Many working class families have at least one member who works for the state. A victory in that sector would be a victory for every worker in the country.

The second lesson concerns those who have been accused of committing acts of sabotage. It is positive that all employees who were dismissed in the strike have been reinstated. However, those workers who are facing charges of sabotage can only return to their jobs if they are found innocent of the charges. Unlike the management, the bosses media, and the unions we refuse to condemn workers fighting to defend their living conditions. It is important that these workers are not forgotten. How to react if workers are convicted of sabotage, and dismissed is a key question that all Telekom workers need to discuss.

The next lesson concerns the allegations of treachery. Haber-İş President, Ali Akcan was quick to claim that striking workers were not ‘traitors’, and claimed that if the country needed it in case of war, the strikers would ‘do their duty’. To us it is very obvious that the working class in this country have put the interests of the nation before their own interests for far too long. The working class has paid for the states war in the South East not only through years of inflation, and austerity, but also through its children’s blood. It is time to put our interests as workers first.

The final lesson concerns the entire working class. The Telekom workers struggled alone. Even while there were picket lines at workplaces the clerks in the PTT were still working. Yet the issue that the Telekom workers were struggling for, the defence of salaries from inflation concerns the entire working class. The unions lock workers into their different sectors. If Telekom workers alone won 10% what could they have won if they had linked up with PTT workers? What could they have won if they had linked up with public sector workers? What is needed is for workers to avoid being isolated in their own sectors, and to make links with other sectors. If strikers had gone directly to PTT workers, and appealed to them to join the strike, the victory could have been both greater, and quicker.

Inflation is not going to go away, the central bank has again revised its inflation forecasts. Not only will public sector workers have to struggle to defend their salaries against pay cuts, but Telekom workers will have to struggle again in the near or medium future to defend the victory won in this strike. And struggling together is the best way to do this.

Devrim

[Lamanov]

Behind the great parade, a mess, and it's for the workers to clean up -- But not this time! Good show. ;)

This is interesting, big news for Turkey, and I might make an article on it. Thus, I have few questions and they concern may day events and nationalist demonstrations this year, along with current tense situation in Turkey.

PM me if [one of you] is up for a few questions.

[proleterian fist]

Yes it was almost one month ago and finally proleterians got what they were looking for.