Kocaeli workers went on strike despite ban

Despite the fact that the strike decisions taken at the Bekaert factories in Koaceli were postponed for 60 days by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, considering that they were detrimental to national security, the workers came out this afternoon in front of the factory, armed their strike tents. and hung the banner ‘There is a strike in this workplace’.

The strike decisions taken by the unions of the companies Bekaert Izmit Çelik Kord Sanayi AŞ and Bekaert Kartepe Çelik Kord Sanayi AŞ in Koaceli, covering approximately 1,000 workers, have been postponed for 60 days.

After the decision, the United Metal Workers Union made a statement, saying: “Workers will not recognize this illegal strike ban and will start their legal strike by making use of their right under the Constitution and internationally accepted laws.”

WORKERS STARTED STRIKE DESPITE BAN

The workers, who ignored the ban with the union’s decision, went on strike at 11:30 a.m., accompanied by applause and whistles.

During the march, the workers chanted ‘Long live our honorable struggle’, ‘The workers are soldiers, there is no peace for the bosses’, ‘Occupation, resistance strike’. The workers gathered in front of the Bekaert factory pitched the strike tent, ignoring the rain.

SUPPORT VISIT OF THE CHP PROVINCIAL PRESIDENT TO THE WORKERS ON STRIKE

CHP Kocaeli Provincial Chairman Harun Özgür Yıldızlı also supported the workers’ protest. Yıldızlı made a statement with United Metal Business President Adnan Serdaroğlu.

Stating that he is in the area of ​​the strike to support the legitimate demands of the workers, Yıldızlı said, “The workers are making use of their constitutional right to strike here. We are here with our fellow executives to defend workers’ rights to the end and to support them.”

“WE WILL CONTINUE THIS FIGHT UNTIL THE END”

United Metal İş President Adnan Serdaroğlu stated that today they started a historic fight with the strike, saying, “Our friends put up an inspiring fight against both the employer’s attitude and the government’s strike ban. Of course it’s not easy,” he said.

Serdaroğlu said: “We are trying to make this legitimate struggle heard and the voice of a metalworker who resists injustices, against being in a society where you create such a calm society, everyone closes in their shell, everything is It is shown as good and accepted Together with our political parties and unions that support us, we will continue this fight with determination until the end”.

“WHO ARE YOU TO TEACH US?”

Serdaroğlu used the following expressions in his speech to the workers who were on strike in front of the factory:

“They are forcing workers to work. They start work half an hour before us, so they try to intimidate us. Who are you to intimidate us? Our lives were spent on the heights of the strike. This union strike is the most prohibited union.

This union is the union that seeks to annul decisions made in this country to the end of the law. This union is a union that made the government pay our union 50,000 lire in compensation from the Constitutional Court. Who are you to try to intimidate people here into forcing workers to go back to work there?

Are you aware that so many people are suffering under this rain? Collective agreements mean compensation for workers’ losses and increase in wages according to future situations.

Here we try to ensure this in the contracts that we make in a period of two years. Our demand is a 130 percent increase over existing wages. The employer currently offers us a figure of 50 percent. We have conveyed that we do not have the opportunity to agree on this reason and that we will use our right to strike”.

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNION LAUNCHES CASE FOR ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DECISION

On the other hand, the United Union of Metal Entrepreneurs announced that it filed a lawsuit before the Council of State demanding the annulment of the president’s wife and the stay of execution.

The union statement said:

“Bekaert Izmit Steel Cord. Singing. see tick Cía Given that the decision of the Presidency on the postponement of the strike, which will begin to be implemented in the workplace, is contrary to the Constitution and the international agreements signed by our country, we filed a lawsuit before the Council of State with the demand for suspension of first execution, without waiting for its annulment and the defense of the defendant administration.