Turkey: city workers strike, need workers’ power

ISTANBUL, Turkey – On February 15, 2,300 municipal workers in the city district of Kadıköy boldly went on strike against the poverty wages offered by the local bosses. These essential workers, who have carried on throughout the pandemic, are being “rewarded” with miserable pay, strike-breakers, and a sellout of their fight.
When workers in different parts of the world seek to increase their militancy and sharpen the contradictions of the class struggle, we find ourselves attacked not only by the capitalist bosses and politicians but also by the fake-left trade union misleaders.
Striking workers in Istanbul and everywhere else need and deserve the international communist Progressive Labor Party (PLP) as the only force that can crush the bosses and their profit system and build a worker-run world.
Workers fight back, bosses sabotage the struggle
To mark the beginning of the strike, masses of workers gathered in front of the Kadiköy municipal building in the cold February air to confront the bosses over stalled union contract negotiations. Many workers aired their grievances and put forward reform demands.
A striking worker said that their demands included a wage hike, improved schedules and more of a say in decision-making. He said, "We are garbage collectors for about 360 days in a 365-day year. But when it comes to bargaining, we become ‘cleaner brothers and sisters’" (Spectre, 3/4). He said that some workers were fired for not saying “Hello” when a supervisor greeted them.  
An office worker felt empowered by the strike and said that almost all workers were participating. She said that they want a free nursery for working mothers and a day off for March 8, International Working Women's Day. But she said the main demand was for a wage increase that keeps up with inflation.
Despite growing worker enthusiasm and support, the strike was abruptly called off just two days later by the central leadership of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK*) General Service Union (Genel-Is) after a secret meeting with the bosses. Hundreds demonstrated in front of the municipal building saying, "We don't recognize any agreement that was signed without us” (Evrensel Daily).
The bosses falsely claimed that they offered a 38 percent wage hike, and many people began to question why the workers were rejecting such a “generous offer.” At the same time, the social-democratic Republican People Party (CHP) politicians sent scabs to help defeat the strike.
Still, many students and workers showed solidarity with the workers as they continued to hold rallies. Public workers in Maltepe, Ataşehir, and Kartal also threatened to strike. In Maltepe, workers had called a strike for February 22, but the union’s central leadership called it off when the Istanbul municipality sent scabs to cross the picket lines.
All of these municipalities that have attacked the workers are controlled by the CHP, the main “opposition” party to the Erdogan government (AKP). Like their U.S. labor and Democratic Party counterparts, they share much of AKP’s anti-worker neoliberal policies. They are the “loyal opposition,” loyal to the racist profit system and the bosses’ dictatorship. A boss is a boss is a boss. We need to crush them all!
Battle lines sharpening—fight for communist revolution
The class struggle and ruling class splits within Turkey are connected to the bosses’ disagreements on how to best manage the country’s growing international clout. Under the Erdogan regime, Turkey has been trying to become more of a regional power in the Middle East, sending troops into Syria and buying advanced weapons from Russia despite being a member of NATO and long-time ally of U.S. imperialism.
They were the first to point the finger at Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman in the gruesome murder of journalist Jamal Kashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in 2018, but this was not coming from any place of compassion for human life. Like all capitalist bosses, the Turkish ruling class are opportunistic thieves who make and break alliances as it suits their profit needs. As imperialist battle lines are sharpening, they are trying to play off both sides of conflicts between superpowers like the U.S. and China in order to advance their own interests (see CHALLENGE, 1/21).
We need a future that neither sacrifices workers up to a deadly pandemic or as fodder for imperialist war. We need true workers’ power. From Istanbul to Soweto, from New York to Bogota, we need communist revolution to build a world that meets the needs of the international working class. PLP is fighting to be the Party that will lead us there.