The workers’ struggles in Turkey, which gained momentum as of the last quarter of 2024, continue into 2025, spreading to other lines of work, cities and regions. The advancing economic crisis is driving workers to resistance in order to make a living!

Strike Fever Burning Başpınar

Last month, under the leadership of BIRTEK-SEN, workers in dozens of factories in the Başpınar Organized Industrial Zone in Antep went on strike demanding a raise to the minimum wage they were receiving.

Strikes began in early February at Yalçın Kardeşler Weaving, Şireci Tekstil, Çelikaslan Tekstil, Ufuk Carpet, Özkaplan Carpet, Kaplanser Carpet, Bulut Tekstil, Has Sag, Grand Carpet and Sırma Carpet and spread to most of the Başpınar Organized Industrial Zone within a few weeks. Ufuk Carpet workers ended their resistance with a 40 percent raise after one day of resistance. The resistance at Özkaplan Carpet ended in exactly 2 hours with a 45 percent raise. During this time, there was a great solidarity between workers from different factories; Yalçın Kardeşler and Şireci workers said the words that would scare the entire bourgeois class during their visit to Çelikaslan workers: "There are attempts to divide us, let’s not play this game". Of course, the bourgeoisie, which has all the repressive apparatus at its disposal, to no one’s surprise, imposed a ban on demonstrations in Gaziantep.

As if that wasn’t enough, they arrested Mehmet Türkmen, the chairman of BIRTEK-SEN, on charges of "violation of freedom to work" and "incitement to commit a crime". "Violation of freedom to work"? It is not the "freedom" to work that is violated, but your "freedom" to exploit workers! And the "crime" incited is the worker demanding a living wage! We are not going to give lectures on how the capitalist economy should be organized, nor are we going to criticize the law in all countries as if it were not bourgeois law, taking refuge in bogus concepts of "rights", "justice", etc. Oppression is part of the normal functioning of the capitalist economy and bourgeois law.

Despite all these repressions and bans, the workers of Has Sag ended the struggle with gains such as the reinstatement of dismissed workers and compensation. Grand Carpet and Yalçın Kardeşler workers fought shoulder to shoulder without giving in to gendarme and police repression. Grand Carpet workers ended the struggle with a raise, while the strike at Yalçın Kardeşler continues. The union movement is still spreading. On March 4, Durkar Carpet and Sebat Carpet started resistance. On March 6, Bellatex Carpet workers stopped work and Eviza Carpet, Durkar Carpet and Sebat Carpet workers ended the struggle with gains such as layoffs or raises. On March 7, Gür Thread and Alka Polyester workers started resistance.

The resistance in Başpınar has again demonstrated the importance of this industrial zone for the trade union movement in Turkey. Since the 2000s, Başpınar has witnessed important labor struggles. We invite our readers to read about these struggles in the study titled "The Last Forty Years of Class Struggle in Turkey: An Overview from 1980 to 2020". From the moment it appeared on the stage of history, the working class in Başpınar has repeatedly realized that "it has nothing to lose but its chains"; as the arrested union leader Mehmet Türkmen said, after all, prison is not so different from the factory.

Municipal Strikes

While some of the municipal workers’ strikes that began in November 2024 in Istanbul’s Maltepe, Kartal and Ataşehir districts and in January 2025 in Izmir have ended, new waves of strikes have begun in parallel.

In Izmir, the metropolitan municipality workers went on strike following the news of a 1.6 billion lira cut from the Bank of Provinces and a cut in salaries by the municipality. On January 8, a meeting of workers of İZENERJİ and İZELMAN, two companies operated by the municipality, in front of the DİSK building turned into a march after threats by mayor Cemil Tugay. After the talks held by DISK during the day, DISK called for salaries to be paid and the strike ended with a win.

In February, subcontracted toilet cleaning workers employed by the Izmir metropolitan municipality were fired from their jobs due to the struggle for their rights that started in January. The actions of the subcontracted cleaning workers had started with the demand for the right to work. At the end of February, after a month of struggle, they reached an agreement with the municipality administration on their demands and suspended their action. According to the statement made by the workers, they will return to work in March with their gains.

In March, tobacco workers joined the strike wave started by municipal workers in Izmir. Sunel and Oriental tobacco workers organized in Branch No. 7 of the Tekgıda-İş Union, affiliated to the Türk-İş regime trade union confederation, went on strike. The workers went on strike in 3 different factories after failing to get what they wanted from the collective bargaining agreement negotiations, and a total of nearly 1700 workers went on strike for their rights. The workers stated that the salaries they receive do not cover the increasing cost of living, that the bosses’ proposals are far from reality and that they responded to the situation with workers’ solidarity.

In Istanbul, Beşiktaş was added to the municipal workers’ strike that started on the Anatolian side (Ataşehir, Maltepe and Kadıköy), organized in DISK. According to reports, late payment of salaries have become a chronic problem in the municipality in the last month and a half. However, the municipality is hiding behind the arrest of Beşiktaş mayor Rıza Akpolat on corruption charges and the "assassination of reputation" discourse they have created with this arrest. Workers organized around the European Side No. 1 of DİSK Genel-İş will go on strike as of March 15 if no agreement is reached. However, workers in Beşiktaş Municipality’s cleaning, parks and gardens, veterinary and public works departments have walked off the job independently of the union because the payment of their salaries has been delayed for months. Upon the workers’ decision to strike, the CHP-affiliated Beşiktaş Municipality decided to fire the workers and appealed to the CHP-affiliated neighboring Beyoğlu Municipality to break the strike. The cleaning workers were also angry with the European Side Branch No. 1 of Genel-İş, one of the most collaborationist member unions of DİSK, because the retroactive payments of the contract signed in November were pushed back to May 2025 without asking the workers.

Parallel to these movements, electricity infrastructure workers are also continuing their protests. After more than two months of inconclusive negotiations between ISPER.AŞ and DİSK Enerji-Sen, the Istanbul branch of DİSK Enerji-Sen called for a province-wide strike. The union’s primary demand was to increase the "handout" wages imposed by the municipality. On February 28, the union made a press statement in front of the municipal ISKI General Directorate and announced that they once again rejected the misery wage.

There are also reactions from Adana’s Seyhan Municipality about the workers’ unpaid wages. The Seyhan Municipality did not comply with the terms of the collective bargaining agreement it signed and paid the salaries, which should have been 55 thousand liras, as 35 thousand liras. In response to the underpayment of salaries, workers of Seyhan Municipality held a press statement on February 25 organized by DİSK Genel-İş.

In February, another call against the rising cost of living and capital’s austerity policies came from Eğitim-Sen, the teachers union. Eğitim-Sen made a statement on its official Twitter account and shared its union demands:
     - Reduce the indirect tax rate on essential consumption items of working people to zero!
     - All payments, including additional supplementary payments, should be added to the base salary!
     - Abolish the interview for public sector jobs.

Çayırhan Miners Resistance

On November 20, 2024, 500 miners in Çayırhan, a town near Ankara, locked themselves in the mine against the privatization decision. Bourgeois law is incapable of defending workers’ rights. During the privatization process, the tender specifications did not include any clause that protects workers’ rights; on top of that, it was demanded that the lodgings where the workers stay be vacated within 4 months. This caused a reaction among the workers.

The workers went underground with a steel will and determination; above ground, their protests received widespread support. The bourgeois state, which has nothing to fear more than the workers uniting and supporting each other, had its skirts on fire. The gendarme barricaded the workers who wanted to enter the mine. The workers decided to wait in front of the barricade until they entered the mine. Talih Kocabıyık, branch president of the Turkish Mine Workers Union affiliated to Türk-İş, said "it is a very profitable enterprise, that is probably why it is being privatized", but no explanation was given about the privatization decision.

The de facto strike launched by the workers partially yielded results within 10 days. The Privatization Administration decided to postpone the tender until March 4. The workers then took action again, chanting "Don’t postpone, don’t cheat, cancel the sale".

In spite of everything, the workers managed to change the terms of the tender and won the right to employ 2050 minimum staff for 5 years and the right to live in the lodging house for one year even if the worker is dismissed.

Tender applications ended on March 4, 2025 at 18.00. Workers stated that they will keep their tents in the area in order to be prepared for situations that may cause them difficulties.

Maden-İş Çayırhan Branch President said that they will remain on watch until the tender process is finalized: "Today was the last day of bidding for 104 days. We have not received the results yet. As you know, nearly 50 of our friends have been underground for two days. We did not take the risk because of the health risk, we took our friends out. The struggle will continue here at the mouth of the mine. Our tent will continue here until the tender process takes a clear shape. In case we don’t like it or in case it will put us in difficulty, our tent will remain here until Friday, provided that we are always ready in any way. We expect a clear announcement by Friday. Our struggle is not over, our struggle continues".

While Çayırhan workers are determinedly fighting for their rights, they are also expressing a nationalist reaction in favor of nationalization. Therefore, through the regime union Türkiye Maden İş, nationalist left and right opposition bourgeois parties that advocate partial state ownership against privatization have tried to intervene in the process. At this point, it should be emphasized again that under capitalism, state ownership and private ownership are essentially a legal distinction that does not change the nature of the enterprise and does not eliminate the relationship of exploitation.

KFC and Pizza Hut

Following the end of the agreement between Yum Brands and İş Gıda, mass layoffs of workers have begun. While İlkem Şahin, who has investments in many sectors, says that he is bankrupt due to a debt of 7.7 billion, someone should remind Görkem Şahin that he said "I will not go bankrupt even if the state goes bankrupt". The company did not pay the last two months’ salaries of its employees and "threw its workers out on the street" when the concordat was declared.

KFC workers believe that the layoffs were planned in advance. As the company was preparing to declare bankruptcy, the boss attempted to evade the workers’ rights by putting his assets in his wife’s name and attempting to divorce her. Even though it was known that a concordat would be declared, workers were kept working until the last day. They did not receive their salaries, they were not released from insurance on time, so that they would have to waive their right to compensation if they wanted to take another job.

This is the essence of the bourgeois judicial mechanism! İlkem Şahin is able to use the law to get away with mass layoffs by making workers work until the last day of their employment, and thus profit from it! After creating this mass victimization of workers (our so-called debt-ridden bourgeoisie!) buys a yacht for 50 million TL. They are blatantly making fun of the victimization of workers. The bourgeois state apparatus is one of the partners in this crime. Its laws protect the bourgeoisie and victimize the working class. Why don’t these incidents reach the ears of those in the palaces? The bourgeois law and state have shown how meticulous they are in sending gendarme and police forces to workers’ struggles. But when it comes to the workers (not surprisingly) it ignores the injustice!

The workers showed their reaction to this situation by gathering in front of the company headquarters in Kavacık, Istanbul. At every opportunity the workers have been and are showing that they are determined in their struggle. The regime unions and some bourgeois left parties quickly "jumped in" to the protests in order to mislead the workers with bourgeois democratic rhetoric and to divert them from their path.

The protests are still going on and workers are calling out from the fields of resistance:

"We have kept silent and endured for 2 years, but enough is enough. We have worked overtime without taking leave, carrying heavy loads. This brand, which grew with our sweat, now condemns us to starvation. We know that this situation is not only happening to us. It can happen to all Yum Brands employees around the world. So we call out to Yum Brands workers all over the world. Wake up, stand up for your rights, don’t be silent! If we act together, we can make our voices heard. Let’s put a stop to this injustice by standing shoulder to shoulder together, let’s make our voices heard all over the world".

The biggest weapon of the working class against international companies like Yum Brands is international strikes and resistance. Companies that try to achieve their growth targets by declaring bankruptcy and shifting their capital from one country to another seem to cover their moving costs with the unpaid wages of workers. Workers can protect themselves from this predatory global capitalism by protecting their self-organization, their unions. Forcing the unions to build international links and spread strikes and resistance to many enterprises will increase the workers’ chances of winning.

Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant

The Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, which is being built in Mersin through the cooperation of Russian and Turkish capital, is an opportunity for national capital to achieve the glory of the "national economy" and a concentration camp for the working class.

Akkuyu has a total of 4 pressurized water reactors and the foundations for all four have been laid. While units 1 and 2 are under construction, construction of cells 3 and 4 has been halted by Rosatom and workers are being fired.

Akkuyu workers have to cope with poor working conditions, arbitrary dismissals and unpaid salaries! The bosses’ arbitrariness is so precious that they leave 500 workers unemployed and don’t need to give a reason. Not to mention the unpaid salaries since December 22nd!

"If so many workers were to be laid off in a short time, why were they hired? We are already crawling in shacks. We have no money and no right to work humanely. All we get is three pennies. We sleep in filthy places, food with filth in it is put in front of us. What for? We already work almost for free. And this treatment is really shameful". They add, "This is not a construction site, it’s like a Nazi camp!"

In the capitalist mode of production, production is carried out to maximize profit. Maximizing profit means exploiting surplus value as much as possible, that is, cutting workers’ wages and making profit by cheapening even the most basic needs of workers.

Unable to endure these inhumane working conditions, the workers began a work stoppage. The reaction of the bourgeoisie’s bloody stick, the state, to the work stoppage is not surprising: sending gendarmes. Wherever there is a worker who seeks their rights, the bourgeois political order either forces them to cooperate with the state and puts them through legal barriers or, like the Akkuyu workers, tries to silence them. This is the reality of the rights, justice and law that the hypocritical bourgeois society treats us to.

It is only through the existence of class unions and a class party that workers can be liberated from the capitalist order!