FREEDOM TO MUNICIPAL WORKERS
6 members of DİSK/Genel-İş are under arrest since 27th November 2011. Cafer Konca, one of the arrestees, is a Board member of Genel-İş and the President of İzmir Branch No:3 that operates in general services sector and is an affiliate of the PSI. Konca and his branch organized many activities against government policies such as commercialization of public services and subcontracting.
Turkish government has been systematically commercializing the municipal services through legal regulations and applications that lead to procurement of municipal services from the market. Subcontracting municipal services means worse working conditions and poorer wages for municipal workers, but it also obstructs citizens’ right to get free and qualified public services.
The fact that İzmir Metropolitan Municipality runs public services through its own companies instead of subcontracting them, and signs collective agreements with those companies, make the said municipality a target to the government’s oppressive measures.
The statements made by our UNION during the meetings with the companies who enter the procurement tender process as to the fact that the workers in that jobs are UNIONized, that there is a specific collective bargaining agreement, and that the workers want to be entitled to decent wages, were interpreted as “conspiracy in tender process” by the prosecutor.
A trade UNION’s basic duty is to defend the rights of their members. Our friends were arrested just because they did their duty. DİSK’s struggle for free and quality public services and defending most basic workers’ rights will go on.
There still is no development in the situation even after the letters sent to the Prime Minister by EPSU and PSI. And you must also be aware that our detained friends cannot benefit even from their right to a fair trial.
