Turkey is experiencing the greatest wave of strikes since the 1990s. Following the workers of Turkish Airlines (THY), wage earners in the textile and marine sectors also decided to halt working until seeing their demands fully met. Finally, workers for the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) joined the caravan of strikers.
Hava-İş President Atilay Ayçin addreesing THY workers to say their reasons for striking are many. Employees at Petkim, Turkey's state-owned petrochemicals producer that was recently privatized in a debated tender to a Kazakh-led consortium, may choose to go on strike anytime as they still haven't reached an agreement with the company's administration over wages for next term.
Unions seem to have become much more prone to declare strikes in order to demand higher wages, despite laborers' salaries having enjoyed increases with the dramatically falling inflation in the past four years. "The shadow of strike is threatening the industries beforehand," many analysts say, as competitiveness, production, and so the profitability of these companies will fall, resulting in less recruitment or even firings in the middle-term. According to estimations made by some experts in the business, strikes may cause the economy to see a direct loss of at least $5 billion.
Analysts are also questioning the timing of these strikes, wondering whether there is special purpose for unions to shut down production all around the same time. "Is the strike being drawn to the table as a trump card of instability?" is the most asked question nowadays. Some believe the strikes will probably be exploited as a means to throttle the government and the economy. The employers are also wary of the unions' steps, blaming them of avoiding reaching a common ground in agreements.
The gridlock in collective bargaining talks has long been on the agenda of the Turkish economy. The Civil Aviation Workers' Union (Hava-İş) rejected the THY administration's offer of a 10 percent wage increase last month and insisted on a much larger hike -- 23 percent --for all workers. The two sides of the table made no concessions and the talks ended in a stalemate as the union decided to lead its member workers to a strike. Even Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's directives and Labor and Social Security Minister Murat Başesgioğlu's conciliatory attempts didn't help ameliorate the demands of the workers.
The THY administration, on the other hand, called the union's bluff and declared they will announce a lockout if workers strike. That means 11,300 THY workers may lose their jobs completely and THY may ultimately shut down its subsidiary company for technical services. Currently pilots are earning up to YTL 12,000 monthly whereas hosts and flight attendants make between YTL 3,000 and 3,600. The monthly earnings of technicians vary between YTL 2,500 and YTL 4,000.
The possibility of a strike is worrying tourism operators and exporters the most. It is a matter of concern for the government as well since tourism, which plays a vital role in shrinking the current account deficit, will be severely damaged if THY is forced to cancel flights due to a strike. Chairman of the Turkish Association of Travel Agents (TÜRSAB) Başaran Ulusoy insists that the two sides must immediately reach an agreement. "A strike at THY would definitely be a harsh blow to tourism," he says. At the same time, THY is of utmost importance in terms of exportation. The airline carries Turkish businessmen to some countries that no other Turkish airline company flies to. If THY opts to shrink its operations and cancels flights to such destinations, commercial relations with these countries may be greatly affected. Oğuz Satıcı, the chairman of Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), points to this dreadful scenario and blames the union for the deadlock in talks and refusal to reach an agreement. For him, the THY administration has so far shown good intentions to solve the problem, but their attempts have always been weathered by the union for apparently no reason.
Textiles are another sector that has come under the strike wave. The Turkish Textile, Knitting and Clothing Industry Workers' Union (TEKSİF) decided on a strike in 20 establishments. The Real Trade Union for Workers in the Weaving, Knitting and Garment Industry (Öz İplik-İş), committed to Labor Confederation (Hak-İş), is also going on a strike involving 5,000 workers in six establishments. Textile, Garment, Painting, Tricot and Dress Workers' Union (TEKSTİL-SEN), on the other hand, has also decided to strike in seven work places on behalf of 5,000 employees. The strike decisions coming one after another are causing stress on Turkish industry, which scrambles to deal with the Chinese threat and the economy. The strikes would shake the textile industry that has a significant for Turkey's exports and struggles to become a trademark. It is said that the strike decision concerning about 16,000 workers in total would likely please the Chinese the most. The widely accepted opinion is that a possible shrinking of the textile sector, which is the leading power in terms of employment, would jolt the sector.
The Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodities Exchanges (TOBB) Apparel and Ready Wear Assembly President Umut Oran stated that the sector's profit margin remained between 5 and 10 percent due to the negative impact of East Asia, adding: "The textile sector lies on the edge of a knife. The Turkish economy doesn't have a chance to overcome a strike; it would mean non-production and the decrease in the acceleration of the sector. Oran also underlined that a strike would shake the exports of the sector.
The İstanbul Textile and Raw Materials Exporters' Union (İTHİB) Chairman İsmail Gülle emphasized that many employers would volunteer for a lockout if a strike did happen. "The strike and the subsequent lockout would wear down the sector. The important thing is that factories keep manufacturing. The exports of the textile sector are around 25 percent and will reach $7 billion by the end of 2007. We wouldn't like to have any obstacle while we have gained this acceleration."
Turkey's pioneering scientific studies institution, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), is also under the threat of strike. The Turkish Union of Trade, Cooperative, Education, Office and Fine Arts Workers (Tez-Koop İş), a sub-union of the Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions (Türk-İş), decided to go on a strike with 3,000 employees. The strike in an institution such as TÜBİTAK, which gives significant research and development (R&D) support to Turkish industry, is also considered a serious threat for the Turkish economy in general. TÜBİTAK runs several R&D operations in institutions and laboratories in various cities and conducts basic and applied research on positive sciences for the public and private establishments. A slowdown in TÜBİTAK would prevent the Turkish industry from becoming a trademark and competing in the global markets.The ongoing collective bargaining in Türk Telekom also ended up without a compromise on Wednesday. The Turkish Communication Workers' Union (Haber-İş) is preparing to decide on a strike in the second half of September. During the negotiations, which concern around 25,000 workers, the union asked for a 19 percent salary increase. This much of a raise would bring an additional financial burden equivalent to YTL 172 million to the establishment.
As the labor unions move to strike in several establishments, the total number of workers to participate may reach 62,300. Negotiations between the government and the unions still continue and the third round meetings brought the wage increase issue on the agenda. In order to meet the unions' demands, additional resources between YTL 5.3 and YTL 10.6 billion is required. Furthermore, civil service unions have several other demands, such as additional payment for crowded classrooms in schools, energy use at a discounted price, free lunch and more workers at the Postal and Telecommunications General Directorate (PTT) -- all of which are impossible to fulfill.
Meanwhile an establishment in Tarsus is seeing its 546th day in a strike. Since March 15, 2006, the 300 workers of the SCT Filter Factory have been striking with Birleşik Metal-İş, a sub-union of the Confederation of Revolu-tionary Workers' Union (DİSK). The laborers alternatively stand guard at the factory as well.
(todayszaman.com)