Press employees on strike after 30 years
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With the fascist constitution of 1980, the peoples of Turkey and Northern Kurdistan have been living a massacre. The right to strike was abolished. Two days after the coup, the strikes of altogether 54,000 workers of different work places were finished. Labour organisations, unions and confederations were closed. Many leading workers and revolutionaries were killed.

 

01 September 2009 /International Bulletin / Issue 85

 

The ATV-Sabah strike, that has the particularity to be the first strike in the press branch after the fascist military coup in Turkey in 1980, was started on February 13 and finished on July 17 by the 2nd Labour Court of Istanbul that decided that "the strike must finish".
After the negotiations on collective agreement at ATV-Sabah affiliated to Turkuvaz Medya Group that belong to Ahmet Calik, who is known for his close relation to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, were stopped without any solution, the Journalists' Union of Turkey (TGS) announced its decision to go on strike. On the 5th day of the strike 10 journalists were dismissed. These 10 journalists tried to tell their matter for 154 days in different ways until they were stopped due to the courts' decision. Nuh Koklu, the representative of the journalists dismissed and at the same time işyeri temsilcisi of TGS, had said in a statement that they had started this strike for an independent and free pres.
On September 12, 1980, the day when the military fascist coup was realised, the strike of the workers of the printing house printing the banknotes was banned on its third day by the military rulership, trials started against the leaders and representatives of the strike and many of them convicted to long years of prison under the claim of having stolen the notes that had not been even printed. They were deprived of their rights for 15 years. After 29 years the ATV-Sabah strikers are following the roots of this strike, they're gathering every day in front of their work places in a disciplined way and put on their strike vests. They expect support by their colleagues who pass by to start working. They declare that they can't really be angry with their colleagues not joining the strike; and they said that they expect them to be with them in their just struggle. The reason for this is that a black list was created among the press institutions shortly after the strike started, and the names of the workers joining the strike were included to this list so that these workers would never ever find a job at any pres institution. Despite all restrictions and bans on news, the ATV-Sabah strike is a strike that grew with the support it got from day to day. Organisations and unions, among them Turk-Is , DISK , Union of Writers of Turkey, Egitim-Sen , Tekstil-Sen , Federation of Journalists of Europe (EFJ), ESP and BEKSAV announced to support this strike. The journalists on strike gather at Taxim Tram Station, Istanbul, every Saturday and march to overcome the media censorship. This march has now become a tradition, the pres labourers declare that they don't have only financial demands, but also aim to ameliorate the working conditions. The press labourers distribute their strike newspaper published by themselves and announce their thoughts on different topic. After the courts` decision to stop the strike, the TGS explained to respect the courts' decision. By that, they practically legitimated the strike bans that the fascist constitution of September 12, 1980 had introduced. This situation must be considered as a sign of the union movement in our country for suffering a setback after 1980.
With the fascist constitution of 1980, the peoples of Turkey and Northern Kurdistan have been living a massacre. The right to strike was abolished. Two days after the coup, the strikes of altogether 54,000 workers of different work places were finished. Labour organisations, unions and confederations were closed. Many leading workers and revolutionaries were killed. With the constitution of 1982 the workers were deprived of their right to organise themselves. Since 1980 the working class was tried to be deprived of many of their rights won in the union struggle under the pretext of the crisis. The press labourers started their struggle saying "the honour of labour is to be organised in a union" and continue with their strike with their limited opportunities because of the media censorship. Supporting this strike and ensuring its success will be a new achievement in the struggle of the working class and labourers. The journalists didn't make any step backwards although the TGS accepted the decision of finishing the strike. On the contrary, the strike continues and the journalists on strike say that this strike is teaching them like a school and continue meeting up at Taxim. Tayyip Erdogan who is not bored of saying that the economic crisis wouldn't affect Turkey can't hide the fact that Turkey is one of the three mainly worst affected countries by the crisis.
The working class and the oppressed people will sooner or later push those from their seats who try to let the workers pay for the crisis and send the fascist constitution of 1980 to the dump of history.

 

 

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Press employees on strike after 30 years
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With the fascist constitution of 1980, the peoples of Turkey and Northern Kurdistan have been living a massacre. The right to strike was abolished. Two days after the coup, the strikes of altogether 54,000 workers of different work places were finished. Labour organisations, unions and confederations were closed. Many leading workers and revolutionaries were killed.

 

01 September 2009 /International Bulletin / Issue 85

 

The ATV-Sabah strike, that has the particularity to be the first strike in the press branch after the fascist military coup in Turkey in 1980, was started on February 13 and finished on July 17 by the 2nd Labour Court of Istanbul that decided that "the strike must finish".
After the negotiations on collective agreement at ATV-Sabah affiliated to Turkuvaz Medya Group that belong to Ahmet Calik, who is known for his close relation to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, were stopped without any solution, the Journalists' Union of Turkey (TGS) announced its decision to go on strike. On the 5th day of the strike 10 journalists were dismissed. These 10 journalists tried to tell their matter for 154 days in different ways until they were stopped due to the courts' decision. Nuh Koklu, the representative of the journalists dismissed and at the same time işyeri temsilcisi of TGS, had said in a statement that they had started this strike for an independent and free pres.
On September 12, 1980, the day when the military fascist coup was realised, the strike of the workers of the printing house printing the banknotes was banned on its third day by the military rulership, trials started against the leaders and representatives of the strike and many of them convicted to long years of prison under the claim of having stolen the notes that had not been even printed. They were deprived of their rights for 15 years. After 29 years the ATV-Sabah strikers are following the roots of this strike, they're gathering every day in front of their work places in a disciplined way and put on their strike vests. They expect support by their colleagues who pass by to start working. They declare that they can't really be angry with their colleagues not joining the strike; and they said that they expect them to be with them in their just struggle. The reason for this is that a black list was created among the press institutions shortly after the strike started, and the names of the workers joining the strike were included to this list so that these workers would never ever find a job at any pres institution. Despite all restrictions and bans on news, the ATV-Sabah strike is a strike that grew with the support it got from day to day. Organisations and unions, among them Turk-Is , DISK , Union of Writers of Turkey, Egitim-Sen , Tekstil-Sen , Federation of Journalists of Europe (EFJ), ESP and BEKSAV announced to support this strike. The journalists on strike gather at Taxim Tram Station, Istanbul, every Saturday and march to overcome the media censorship. This march has now become a tradition, the pres labourers declare that they don't have only financial demands, but also aim to ameliorate the working conditions. The press labourers distribute their strike newspaper published by themselves and announce their thoughts on different topic. After the courts` decision to stop the strike, the TGS explained to respect the courts' decision. By that, they practically legitimated the strike bans that the fascist constitution of September 12, 1980 had introduced. This situation must be considered as a sign of the union movement in our country for suffering a setback after 1980.
With the fascist constitution of 1980, the peoples of Turkey and Northern Kurdistan have been living a massacre. The right to strike was abolished. Two days after the coup, the strikes of altogether 54,000 workers of different work places were finished. Labour organisations, unions and confederations were closed. Many leading workers and revolutionaries were killed. With the constitution of 1982 the workers were deprived of their right to organise themselves. Since 1980 the working class was tried to be deprived of many of their rights won in the union struggle under the pretext of the crisis. The press labourers started their struggle saying "the honour of labour is to be organised in a union" and continue with their strike with their limited opportunities because of the media censorship. Supporting this strike and ensuring its success will be a new achievement in the struggle of the working class and labourers. The journalists didn't make any step backwards although the TGS accepted the decision of finishing the strike. On the contrary, the strike continues and the journalists on strike say that this strike is teaching them like a school and continue meeting up at Taxim. Tayyip Erdogan who is not bored of saying that the economic crisis wouldn't affect Turkey can't hide the fact that Turkey is one of the three mainly worst affected countries by the crisis.
The working class and the oppressed people will sooner or later push those from their seats who try to let the workers pay for the crisis and send the fascist constitution of 1980 to the dump of history.