The TEKEL workers are resisting in the name of the whole working class!
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One of the most important characteristic of the TEKEL resistance was the fact that it openly displayed the difference between the collaborating Turk-Is and the workers and labourers, and it didn't last with only that, with the pressure made on the unions, it forced the confederations to announce a general strike.  

01 February/ International Bulletin/ Issue: 90

The TEKEL resistance that has already lasted for 2 months is paving the way for a new period for the working class in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan as well as the whole social movement.
12,000 workers from nearly 40 TEKEL businesses from different cities gathered in Ankara on December 15, 2009. Neither the police's rabid attacks, including spattering with pressurized water in the middle of the winter, and arrests, nor the efforts of the collaborating leadership of the union Turk-Is to compromise have been enough to stop the TEKEL workers resistance against the par. 4/C. TEKEL workers have continued with their resistance in Ankara for 2 months.
When the resistance started, the Kurdish people and its organisations were facing a new wave of attacks. Hundreds of Kurdish Patriots, among them mayors elected by the Kurdish people with a majority of votes, were imprisoned, and on the streets ethnical war provocations broke out one after another. One again Turkish workers and labourers poisoned with chauvinism tried to make the colonial attacks on the Kurdish people become a mass militia power.
The TEKEL resistance, as a gathering of the working class on the basis of objective class profits of Istanbul and Amed*, was very important right during this period. It was the most important dynamics to make the whole social struggle and resistances reach victory, and first of all the Kurdish national liberation struggle, and not only fighting against the AKP government's attacks on the class, but at the same time the whole social struggle and resistances. The TEKEL resistance is also very important because it also points to the working class movement.
The TEKEL resistance won the broad support of society within a short time. Besides workers from different sectors and unions, democratic mass organisations, revolutionary and democratic forces supported the resistance, too. The resistance of the TEKEL workers met with the resistance of the fire fighters and railroad workers that developed at the same time, and went beyond the isolated and single resistances which are one of the continuous problems of the working class movement in Turkey.
The militant practice and determination of the women joining the TEKEL resistance, the women taking part in every action in the first rank, is another strong side of the resistance.
The strong resistance tradition of the tobacco workers, which is rooted in history, has undoubtedly played a role in this resistance. In the past TEKEL workers who were displaying a great resistance during the process of privatisation of TEKEL this time developed a great resistance against the par. 4/C, too, which is considered as a law of slavery. According to the joke 4/C of the Officials Law no. 657 saying "staff with a fixed-term contract transferred to other official institutions and organisation because of privatisation", an important number of the TEKEL workers wants to be "taken over as contracted staff for only a fixed term". With that, the workers aren't entitled to receive severance pay aren't allowed to become members of a union and are only employed for a limited period between 4 and 10 months. The resistance of the TEKEL workers against par. 4/C comes along during a period with a new wave of attacks on the workers and labourers. Some of these are Private Employment Offices and laws such as the Union Law, Draft Law for Working the Whole Day affecting the health workers, the labourers' right to collective agreement and the rights of workers they are entitled to. In this sense, the TEKEL resistance has the quality of resistance in the name of all workers and labourers against the AKP's approach to turn the economical crisis into an opportunity to introduce suitable laws for the capital.
One of the most important characteristic of the TEKEL resistance was the fact that it openly displayed the difference between the collaborating Turk-Is and the workers and labourers, and it didn't last with only that, with the pressure made on the unions, it forced the confederations to announce a general strike.
Turk-Is' traditional tactics to boast, at the rally organised with this aim in Ankara the workers occupied the stage with the slogan general strike, general resistance, and Turk-Is bureaucracy was protested all the time. The union's efforts to collaborate with the government were in vain. IMF collaborating AKP government didn't step even one foot backwards from the par. 4/C. Finally, Turk-Is, DISK , KESK , Hak-Is, Kamu-Sen and Memur-Sen announced the general strike on February 4.
On February 4, rallies were organised in the cities, workers from some sectors went on strike. The participation in the strike in Ankara, the centre of Ankara, was high. 10,000s workers and labourers from different sectors marched until SSK Ishani at Kizilay, Ankara. They defended the resistance of the TEKEL workers and protested the AKP government.
While the union confederations, which were forced to realise the strike due to the TEKEL workers' pressure from the basis, drew attention on them with their acts of sabotaging the general strike and with the preparations for the general strike and general resistance, they mainly had a negative impact on the actions on February 4. While Turkiye Kamu-Sen and Memur-Sen changed their mind in the last minute, Turk-Is General Centre made the workers from different sectors remain unsure and told every union branch that "every union's branch could define its kind of action itself" when the negotiations with the government didn't come to a solution so that it could give up the decision of a strike.
TEKEL workers have uninterruptedly continued with their resistance also after February 4. 170 TEKEL workers started an unlimited hunger strike on February 5.
TEKEL workers today resist in the name of all workers, labourers and oppressed groups. The resistance they are leading paves the way for the social struggle and shows the way to be followed.
* Istanbul is the capital of the working class, and Amed is the capital of Kurdistan and the Kurdish national movement. The TEKEL workers came from Istanbul, Amed and other cities, and turned Ankara, the capital of the Turkish bourgeois state, into a post of resistance.

 

 

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The TEKEL workers are resisting in the name of the whole working class!
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One of the most important characteristic of the TEKEL resistance was the fact that it openly displayed the difference between the collaborating Turk-Is and the workers and labourers, and it didn't last with only that, with the pressure made on the unions, it forced the confederations to announce a general strike.  

01 February/ International Bulletin/ Issue: 90

The TEKEL resistance that has already lasted for 2 months is paving the way for a new period for the working class in Turkey and Northern Kurdistan as well as the whole social movement.
12,000 workers from nearly 40 TEKEL businesses from different cities gathered in Ankara on December 15, 2009. Neither the police's rabid attacks, including spattering with pressurized water in the middle of the winter, and arrests, nor the efforts of the collaborating leadership of the union Turk-Is to compromise have been enough to stop the TEKEL workers resistance against the par. 4/C. TEKEL workers have continued with their resistance in Ankara for 2 months.
When the resistance started, the Kurdish people and its organisations were facing a new wave of attacks. Hundreds of Kurdish Patriots, among them mayors elected by the Kurdish people with a majority of votes, were imprisoned, and on the streets ethnical war provocations broke out one after another. One again Turkish workers and labourers poisoned with chauvinism tried to make the colonial attacks on the Kurdish people become a mass militia power.
The TEKEL resistance, as a gathering of the working class on the basis of objective class profits of Istanbul and Amed*, was very important right during this period. It was the most important dynamics to make the whole social struggle and resistances reach victory, and first of all the Kurdish national liberation struggle, and not only fighting against the AKP government's attacks on the class, but at the same time the whole social struggle and resistances. The TEKEL resistance is also very important because it also points to the working class movement.
The TEKEL resistance won the broad support of society within a short time. Besides workers from different sectors and unions, democratic mass organisations, revolutionary and democratic forces supported the resistance, too. The resistance of the TEKEL workers met with the resistance of the fire fighters and railroad workers that developed at the same time, and went beyond the isolated and single resistances which are one of the continuous problems of the working class movement in Turkey.
The militant practice and determination of the women joining the TEKEL resistance, the women taking part in every action in the first rank, is another strong side of the resistance.
The strong resistance tradition of the tobacco workers, which is rooted in history, has undoubtedly played a role in this resistance. In the past TEKEL workers who were displaying a great resistance during the process of privatisation of TEKEL this time developed a great resistance against the par. 4/C, too, which is considered as a law of slavery. According to the joke 4/C of the Officials Law no. 657 saying "staff with a fixed-term contract transferred to other official institutions and organisation because of privatisation", an important number of the TEKEL workers wants to be "taken over as contracted staff for only a fixed term". With that, the workers aren't entitled to receive severance pay aren't allowed to become members of a union and are only employed for a limited period between 4 and 10 months. The resistance of the TEKEL workers against par. 4/C comes along during a period with a new wave of attacks on the workers and labourers. Some of these are Private Employment Offices and laws such as the Union Law, Draft Law for Working the Whole Day affecting the health workers, the labourers' right to collective agreement and the rights of workers they are entitled to. In this sense, the TEKEL resistance has the quality of resistance in the name of all workers and labourers against the AKP's approach to turn the economical crisis into an opportunity to introduce suitable laws for the capital.
One of the most important characteristic of the TEKEL resistance was the fact that it openly displayed the difference between the collaborating Turk-Is and the workers and labourers, and it didn't last with only that, with the pressure made on the unions, it forced the confederations to announce a general strike.
Turk-Is' traditional tactics to boast, at the rally organised with this aim in Ankara the workers occupied the stage with the slogan general strike, general resistance, and Turk-Is bureaucracy was protested all the time. The union's efforts to collaborate with the government were in vain. IMF collaborating AKP government didn't step even one foot backwards from the par. 4/C. Finally, Turk-Is, DISK , KESK , Hak-Is, Kamu-Sen and Memur-Sen announced the general strike on February 4.
On February 4, rallies were organised in the cities, workers from some sectors went on strike. The participation in the strike in Ankara, the centre of Ankara, was high. 10,000s workers and labourers from different sectors marched until SSK Ishani at Kizilay, Ankara. They defended the resistance of the TEKEL workers and protested the AKP government.
While the union confederations, which were forced to realise the strike due to the TEKEL workers' pressure from the basis, drew attention on them with their acts of sabotaging the general strike and with the preparations for the general strike and general resistance, they mainly had a negative impact on the actions on February 4. While Turkiye Kamu-Sen and Memur-Sen changed their mind in the last minute, Turk-Is General Centre made the workers from different sectors remain unsure and told every union branch that "every union's branch could define its kind of action itself" when the negotiations with the government didn't come to a solution so that it could give up the decision of a strike.
TEKEL workers have uninterruptedly continued with their resistance also after February 4. 170 TEKEL workers started an unlimited hunger strike on February 5.
TEKEL workers today resist in the name of all workers, labourers and oppressed groups. The resistance they are leading paves the way for the social struggle and shows the way to be followed.
* Istanbul is the capital of the working class, and Amed is the capital of Kurdistan and the Kurdish national movement. The TEKEL workers came from Istanbul, Amed and other cities, and turned Ankara, the capital of the Turkish bourgeois state, into a post of resistance.