Turkey: Tekel struggle – February 20 Day of International Solidarity

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is supporting the Tekel Workers and has called for an international day of solidarity for this coming February 20. Send more messages of solidarity and actively participate wherever you can in the day of solidarity.

Saturday, February 20, 2010, has been declared as the Day of International Solidarity with the Tekel Workers. Please take up this question all over the world. On that day we want all comrades to sign any kind of solidarity with the Tekel workers. Protests in front of Turkish embassies can be organized for instance.

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is supporting the Tekel Workers!! Here is their statement:

“12,000 workers from the Turkish privatised tobacco and alcohol warehouses (TEKEL) have lost their jobs, and with the dispute entering its third month there is still no solution in sight. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) calls on the Turkish government again to ensure that negotiations begin immediately, with a view to transferring these workers to other public enterprises with their full employee benefits, in accordance with the law.

“After a series of demonstrations the leaders of the trade union organisation TÜRK-İŞ met two weeks ago with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish Prime Minister, who instructed his Ministers to come up with a solution to end the conflict. There is still no deal.

“TEKEL workers have set up camp outside the TÜRK-İŞ trade union headquarters in the centre of Ankara. Jeff Bridgford, ETUC Special Adviser, visited the camp on Tuesday, 9 February. ‘It is very cold, particularly at night, and the conditions are spartan, but the TEKEL workers are determined. They are taking a firm stand. They want a fair solution to this crisis’.

“As a European trade union organization, ETUC supports these workers in their fight for their most elementary needs: the right to earn a decent living for a decent day’s work!”