Members of the All Local Government Employees Union (All Local-Sen) affiliated with the United Public-Labor Confederation, working in different units of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) such as fire brigade, police and road maintenance, organized a protest on the grounds that their demands were not met in the social balance agreement.
The group gathered in front of the IMM Presidency Building in Saraçhane and opened a banner saying "Don't delay the workers, give them back our rights" and shouted slogans.
Making a statement to the press on behalf of the group, Tüm Yerli-Sen Chairman Sezgin Sevinç said that they gathered to talk about the social balance agreement and to protect the future of their children.
Sevinç said, "Today, we gathered here not only to talk about the social balance agreement, but also to protect the future of our children. Today, we are gathered here with the pride of being an authorized union after 32 years. We thank all the workers who made us authorized after 32 years. Together, with your support and determined struggle, we will get the rights that the public workers of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality deserve. Although our demands are very reasonable and realistic, our collective labor agreement, which is our right, is always used under the pretexts of embezzlement and investigation. "Our bonuses are not given, they are ignored. We never accept that Türkiye's largest municipality hides behind excuses of embezzlement and judiciary, while there is no embezzlement for the massive bonuses paid in district municipalities or other provinces," he said.
Sevinç stated that they did not accept lower collective bargaining agreements than the provinces they went to help as workers who worked devotedly during sleepless nights, and said, "We, as employees of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, are not just workers who serve 16 million Istanbulites. Wherever an earthquake, flood, flames or any other disaster occurs in our country, we are the first ones to step out and intervene. As workers who work selflessly in sleepless nights, in the rubble, in the flames, in the rain and mud, we are among the provinces where we go to help." We do not accept lower collective bargaining agreements. IMM workers, who shoulder the burden of Istanbul, do not want privilege, but the justice that is constantly mentioned in the field, in the squares. No one can make the sweat of our workers and the sustenance of our children the price of political discussions. Shame on those who covet the rights of the workers who take two Ramadan boxes home during Ramadan. Shame on those who covet the bonus of the laborers who sacrificed to fulfill their religious obligations during Eid al-Adha. "Shame on you," he said.
Sevinç stated that they will be in the squares until they get their rights.
Subcontract the people who have been hired in the last 7 years, let them take them from there, if they can get what they are owed..