As the deepening economic crisis began to hurt the bourgeoisie and class struggles achieved more gains in the past few years than earlier, the bourgeois class began to take a harsher approach against class struggles. However, despite all this, the working class continues to fight, keeping the flame of struggle alive.

New Developments in Old Struggles

Following a strike lasting nearly three months involving 240 workers at Gübertaş, organized by the Petrol-İş union (Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union - Türk-İş), negotiations began on September 19. However, the negotiations ended without result because the employer, almost mockingly, increased its initial offer by only 3 percent in response to the workers’ 95% demand, proposing a 33% wage increase. It should be noted that the consumer price index rose by 3 percent in September compared to the previous month, meaning that the 3 percent increase they proposed would only allow workers to maintain their purchasing power from the previous month, that is according to official statistics. Of course, the workers decided to continue their strike against the employer’s offer. Although the employer, with all his bourgeois generosity, proposed a 38 percent raise in the following days, the workers rejected this offer as well because they wanted a humane life.

Harb-İş (Armament Workers Union - Türk-İş) signed a new collective agreement in September, but unfortunately, the wage increases, which were among the most important gains, did not exceed the figures specified in the KÇP (Public Framework Agreement Protocol). In our previous issue, we mentioned how inadequate the figures given in the KÇP were and how Harb-İş member workers were one of the groups that felt the bourgeoisie’s pressure most heavily due to the field they worked in.

The struggle of TPI Compozit workers, organized by Petrol-İş, which began with a strike involving 2,300 workers on May 13, 2025, is now in a state of uncertainty due to recent developments. As we briefly mentioned in our previous issue, the American company filed for bankruptcy while the strike was ongoing. Of course, this bankruptcy decision was approved by the court, and the company was transferred to a Dubai-based company called XCS. However, as TPI Compozit continued to lay off workers during the strike, Petrol-İş announced that a lawsuit should be filed. But it stated that this lawsuit would not be pursued by the union and that the workers should file individual lawsuits. The workers responded to this situation with two powerful questions: “Why did we pay union dues?” and “Where are you, the union, in this process?” For now, TPI workers are pursuing a strategy of expanding their struggle to gain public support.

After the local elections in Şavşat, the contracts of 30 workers were not renewed by the former administration. The workers who were not rehired filed a lawsuit against the municipality. In one of the lawsuits, although the plaintiff was ordered to be reinstated, the worker was not rehired. Upon this, the workers began their resistance and set up a “municipal workers’ solidarity and action tent” in the district. The workers’ resistance has been going on for several months.

New Struggles

Fifty-seven Omsa Metal workers, organized in Birleşik Metal-İş (United Metal Workers’ Union - DİSK), began a protest when they were dismissed without compensation during collective bargaining negotiations. After protesting at the factory gates for 69 days, the workers moved their protest inside the factory on the 69th day and began a sit-in. On the same day, negotiations between employers and union leaders resulted in a decision to pay the dismissed workers their unpaid severance pay and an additional severance payment.

Around 80 workers employed at the Mert Akışkan Güç Factory, organized under Birleşik Metal-İş, decided to go on strike after failing to reach an agreement in collective bargaining negotiations. The employers, who did not accept the union’s demand for a 40% wage increase, were given until September 26 to reach an agreement. An agreement was reached with the employers before the strike began on September 26, and a collective bargaining agreement was signed.

In Kayseri, around 2,000 Yataş workers organized under Öz İplik-İş (Textile Workers’ Real Union - Hak-İş) went on strike. The work stoppage, which began in August with workers in the sofa department, spread to all departments. The workers, who demanded at least a 40% raise, decided to strike if their demands were not met. Negotiations with the union resulted in a 22% raise. The Yataş management, which had previously stated that it supported the workers and that they could consider changing unions, fired 14 workers who joined DİSK. The DİSK Textile Union marched to the factory gates with the 14 dismissed workers. While the dismissed workers’ struggle continued, the Öz İpliş-İş statement included items such as “distributing holiday candy and cologne during religious holidays”, openly mocking the workers.

Tens of thousands of agricultural workers, working 8-10 hours a day under the scorching sun in the provinces of Adana, Mersin, and Hatay in Çukurova, where nearly 250,000 seasonal agricultural workers are employed, rebelled against their daily wages of 900 liras. The Precarious Workers’ Association tried to contact employer representatives for 30-40 days, but when they failed to get results, they decided to go on strike. After a strike lasting about 9 days, an agreement was reached with the bosses, and workers will be paid 1,200 lira until the new year and 1,500 lira after the new year.

Workers at Ege University Hospital, organized under Sağlık-İş (Health Workers Union - Türk-İş), staged a five-day work stoppage when the promise to pay back wages by October 8 was not kept. After the fifth day, an agreement was reached following talks between the university administration and the union, and the workers returned to work. An agreement was reached between the union and the university to pay the back payments by November 15. Workers reacted to the union’s acceptance of such a late payment, but there was no return to industrial action.

260 workers employed by solar panel manufacturer Smart Solar, who are members of Birleşik Metal-İş, went on strike on October 22 demanding a 50 percent pay increase after receiving only a 6 percent raise. The workers, who are continuing their strike, showed their determination in a post, saying, “You wanted a production record, we achieved it. You asked for overtime, we stayed. You threatened that if we went on strike, the factory would close, but we didn’t give in. You didn’t pay the education assistance payments, you didn’t care. We are not afraid, the strike is our celebration”.

A work stoppage erupted at the Şık Makas factory in Tokat, where 1,700 workers are employed, after months of unpaid wages. The workers had grievances not only about unpaid wages but also about the mobbing they suffered, being forced to resign, and even when wages were paid, they were paid in installments. In September alone, more than a thousand workers were forced to leave their jobs because they couldn’t get their wages. However, the Tokat Governor’s Office banned the workers’ demonstration. The state went beyond crushing the workers’ legitimate demands and mobilized funds for the employer. Incentives exceeding 20 billion lira, tax breaks that amounted to the employer not paying taxes at all; all these stories will surely sound familiar. They also tried to fool the workers by opening a new factory in Egypt and telling them they were “downsizing”, without mentioning that the minimum wage they would pay in Egypt was almost a quarter of what it was in Turkey.

As if all this weren’t enough, by stating that the union they belong to is Öz-İplik İş, it is not difficult to understand how workers could be subjected to these conditions. Workers were forced to sign an agreement that would prevent them from receiving compensation during a process in which Öz-İplik İş acted as a mediator. It also mobbed workers who were members of BİRTEK-SEN to join them. They said that despite the dismissal of 2,000 workers in the last two years, the union had done nothing except collect dues from a group of workers who were already earning the minimum wage. However, the workers receive the support they cannot get from Öz-İplik İş from BİRTEK-SEN. Over 800 workers have transferred to BİRTEK-SEN. The struggle of Şık Makas workers is an important indicator that the militant BİRTEK-SEN has begun to move beyond being a local union in the Antep-Urfa region and become an influential union nationwide.

Municipal Workers’ Struggles

Approximately 1,800 Buca Municipality (Izmir) workers organized under Genel-İş (DİSK) began a protest in front of the municipal building after not receiving their salaries for three months and their food cards and collective agreement differences for six months. On September 15, the municipality threatened to fire the workers with a message stating, “Your assignment at Buca Municipality has been terminated as of September 15, 2025”. Unfazed by the municipality’s threats, the Buca workers continued their protest, and as a result, it was decided in union negotiations that the two unpaid salaries and the eight days’ wages unpaid during the protest would be paid. When the salaries promised to be paid on October 2 were not paid, the workers called for another walkout.

Approximately 2,400 workers at Şişli Municipality (Istanbul), organized by Genel-İş, began a walkout when management failed to pay overtime and bonuses, eliminated weekend holidays, and on top of that, did not pay their salaries on time. Unable to achieve results from the walkouts that began on September 16, the workers staged a protest in front of the Cevahir Shopping Mall on October 14.

Workers at Maltepe Municipality (Istanbul), where around 2,000 workers organized by Genel-İş are employed, held a press conference when the articles signed in the collective bargaining agreement were not implemented. Stating that mobbing and pressure against workers had increased, the workers said, “The pressure has now turned into unfair dismissals. We are not fighting for those who have committed shameful crimes, but for those who have been dismissed without cause”. Unable to achieve results from the press conference, the workers staged a protest in front of the municipality building.

1,800 Karşıyaka Municipality (Izmir) workers, organized under Genel-İş, went on strike when they did not receive their wages. The workers returned to work after promises were made by the municipality, but when the municipality failed to keep its word, they went on strike again. The protests, which began on September 22, lasted three days, and on the third day, an agreement was signed with the municipality. Seventy percent of the September salary will be paid on September 30, and the remaining 30 percent will be paid on October 10. The salary for October will be paid in full between October 15 and 30. For striking workers employed by Kent AŞ, a company affiliated with the municipality, a capital increase will be made in October by a council decision, and payments will be planned after that.