Workers throughout Turkey protest low wage hikes amid high inflation

Delivery workers of several e-commerce companies, as well as factory workers and journalists, continue protests and work stoppages demanding higher wage rises.

In the face of an economic crisis, with the inflation rate at the highest in two decades, the government raised the minimum wage by 50 percent to make up for the increasing living costs. However, wage rises in the private sector for employees earning more than the minimum wage were far below that.

Delivery workers of Trendyol, one of the largest e-commerce companies, were the first ones to start protests demanding higher rises.

After weeks of protests, the workers downed the tools on January 24 and held a protest in front of the company’s headquarters in İstanbul. Trendyol workers from several cities, including Eskişehir, Diyarbakır and İzmir, followed them to stop working.

On January 26, Trendyol agreed for a 38.8 percent raise and the protests ended.

CLICK – After workers’ protests, Trendyol agrees to raise salaries by 38 percent

Following the success of the Trendyol workers, delivery workers of other e-commerce companies — Hepsiburada, Scotty and Yemeksepeti — started protests as well.

The workers demand wages about 12,500 lira, which is slightly less than three times the minimum wage.

Almost all the delivery workers at the mentioned companies, excluding some Yemeksepeti personnel, are gig workers.

Workers of Yurtiçi Kargo, one of the largest delivery companies in the country, also started protests on Monday. They demanded a 40 percent raise whereas the company raised the wages by 17 percent.

However, the company says it raised the wages twice on December 1 and February 1 and the total hike it gave to the workers was 46 percent.

The company terminated the contracts of 20 people who demanded a higher raise.

Media workers

Shortly after BBC İstanbul journalists carried out the country’s first media strike in 13 years and secured the wage hike they demanded, beIN Media employees also started protests.

The employees of the Qatar-based media conglomerate demand a higher increase than 17 percent, what they were given.

Factory workers

Workers of Alpine Çorap, a socks manufacturer that produces products for several international firms such as Adidas, Decathlon, H&M and Carrefour, downed the tools last week after being offered a low increase.

The employers met with the representatives of the workers after more than 300 workers stopped working. They agreed on a 2,500 lira increase and protesting workers won’t be fired.

Workers of Farplas, a Kocaeli-based company producing plastic automotive parts, also started protests a couple of weeks ago.

After the protests, the company fired nearly 150 out of its 2,500 workers. Also, police raided the factory to detain 200 protesting workers last week.

However, the Birleşik Metal-İş union secured a majority to get authorization to carry out activities at the factory. The union wants the fired workers to be reinstated and a bargaining agreement with the employers. (HA/VK)