Dear all,

Many of you already know the situation of TEKEL workers in Turkey. On 12^th of February Presidents of 4 union confederations (TÜRK-İŞ, DİSK, KAMU-SEN, KESK) had a meeting in order to discuss common actions to support TEKEL workers.

In that meeting they decided to bring representatives from all the cities and regions around the Turkey to Ankara on 20^th of February 2010 in order to support the action of Tekel workers, to show them solidarity and stay up all night with Tekel workers.

Theefore, we call the participants of ESF process to join us on 20^th Of February and spend the night with TEKEL workers in Ankara.

Right now, TEKEL workers needs international solidarity more than ever.

Please inform us about your participation.

For more information you can contact,
Eyup Ozer (eyupozer gmail.com and Tel: 00905362059121, skype: ozereyup ) or
Burcu Ayan (International Relations and Research Centre Coordinator of Tekgıda-İs Trade Union) from Tel: +90 212 2644996 * 113, Fax: +90 212 2789534, skype: burcu.ayan09

In order to understand the situation of TEKEL workers beter, please download and watch the photo presentation from this address; _ http://www.speedyshare.com/files/20897438/tekel_direnis.exe

You can find a photo gallery of TEKEL resistance from this link,
http://www.sendika.org/fotogaleri/2010-01-17/

And there are some English news about TEKEL workers in this link:
http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/show_news.pl?country=Turkey

You can find some explanation about the TEKEL workers below:

TEKEL (the former Tobacco Monopoly) workers from all around Turkey is protesting a snap government decision to close their workplaces at the end of January 2010. After the closure, workers have to either quit their job or accept to work in other state institutions with lower wages and less benefits. 12.000 workers who are members of Tekgıda-İş trade union say they will not accept any loss of their rights.

The workers arrived in Ankara on December 14 in 106 buses to participate in a protest demanding to be transferred to other public institutions. The protest began in front of the headquarters of the AKP (the political party in power), but the police cleared the area on 16 December and forced the demonstrators to a nearby park. On the third day of protest police put up barricades around the park and then used water hoses and tear gas against the demonstrators. Police violence escalated and clubs were used against the demonstrators, many of whom had to be hospitalized. Mustafa Türkel, president of our union and general secretary of the national confederation Türk-Is, was arrested, but then released later that evening.

After the police broke up their protest using pepper spray and water hoses, they changed their tactics and started to demonstrate outside the Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions (Türk-İş). Their protest usually starts around 10 a.m., chanting slogans like “If there is no bread, there is no compromise” and “No to discouragement, long live our honorable struggle.” There are placards around the perimeter of the building that read “Don’t play with our future,” “We are workers, we are right, we will win” and “This fire will burn you, too.”

Workers asked to accept less

They are concerned about a law called 4/C, which aims to prevent the victimization of workers; however, the law makes it possible to employ workers temporarily and eliminates severance pay if they are laid off. What upsets them about 4/C is not only the possible decrease in their salaries from TL 1,200 to an average TL 650 but also the fact that under this regulation they will be given jobs for only 10 months of the year and for the other two they will have no income. Social benefits will be removed, and since they will be temporary workers, they will not be part of a union. The workers are claiming that severance payments, overtime wages and employment guarantees for the future will be eliminated as well.

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3 articles in English on Bianet website:

– Police violences against workers
http://www.bianet.org/english/labor/119005-police-violence-against-workers-seeking-their-rights

– Hunger stike issue
http://www.bianet.org/english/labor/119595-will-hunger-strike-of-tekel-workers-lead-to-general-strike

– Recent developments (Feb. 2)
http://www.bianet.org/english/labor/119770-minister-yazici-holds-on-to-disadvantageous-4c-regulation

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Solidarity messages

IUF

Fair treatment of TEKEL workers!

Some 10,000 workers of the former state-run tobacco monopoly, their family members and supporters are currently demonstrating in Ankara in protest against a snap government decision to close their workplaces at the end of January 2010. They demand fair treatment in accordance with the law, which means the transfer to other public enterprises with their full employee benefits. The message below will be sent to the Office of the Prime Minister, the Office of Privatisation and the Directorate General of Press and Information.

To send a solidarity message:
http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=463

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COBAS - Italy

Dear friends, brothers and sisters of struggle, comrades,

Today we would like to be there, in Ankara, with you to offer directly all our solidarity with the struggle of Tekel workers; but our political and tradeunionist commitments (among a lot of other things, we are helping the preparation of the First March of migrants, day of struggle, strike and protest, and the general strike in the school and education of the 12^th of March) in this period oblige us to remain in Italy. As you know, all around the Europe, and especially in Italy, workers, retired persons and young people are strongly paying the general crisis caused by the economic and political capitalistic power. At the beginning of the economic and social crisis, the Italian anti-crisis movement invented the slogan “We will not pay your crisis”. But, on the contrary, unfortunately in the last year we have seen the same old story: capitalistic owners of the world have paied nothing; workers and wage-earning, unemployed and poor people have paied more than before.

In Italy, just now we arrive to have 3 million of unemployed, hundred and hundred of factories are closing or moving to abroad, in the school the government cancels 140.000 jobs, temporary employees (5 millions, all in all) risk at any moment to became jobless and a large part of migrants (around 5 millions too) work in almost slavery conditions. But Berlusconi government goes on cutting, day after day, jobs, wages, public services (above all in school, education and health): and he does all these destroying policies without any real opposition on the part of center-left parties and tradeunions, neither in the Parliament and in the public institutions nor outside, in the society. Therefore, it’s very easy and natural for us to express our total solidarity and to be in agreement with your struggle and with your 12000 workers, members of Tekgida-Is, who refuse with courage and strength any loss of their rights, in spite of the violent repression on the part of Turkish government and police. We are sure that your intransigence in defence of your rights and the unity that you have succeeded to create around your struggle will take you to the victory: and, up to that moment, we definitely will be with you.

Piero Bernocchi

Speaker of COBAS - Italy

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Dear camrades ESK -union from Basque Country- wishes express our solidarity with your struggles against the policies of Turkish government -privatizing TEKEL and reducing jobs through layoffs- and we demand to the authorities to stop repression against workers. It is clear that facing the government privatization offensive and combating the prizatizatión and the shedding of jobs in Tekel is necessary to build the broadest possible solidarity of workers in Europe.

ESK - Basque Country

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