Nearly 200 workers marched silently toward the CHP headquarters in Ankara’s Söğütözü district and made a statement to the press in front of the building. Speaking on behalf of the group, Fatih Çebi said workers who have not received their wages for three months have been suffering from financial difficulties. He complained that the CHP, which has lent support to workers dismissed from Tekel, Turkey’s recently privatized alcohol and tobacco monopoly, have done nothing to help them.
The workers underlined that they have not gone on strike and are still fulfilling their duties. Noting that they have no political motives, the protesters explained that they are simply demanding their pay.
As they left the CHP headquarters, the sanitation workers honked the horns of their vehicles. Other workers at the building also supported their colleagues by clapping.
The sanitation workers’ protest brought to mind the same workers’ previous gesture in support of CHP leader Deniz Baykal in 2007. The workers set up a “shield” with their garbage trucks in front of the CHP headquarters in the wake of the July 22, 2007 parliamentary elections, which the CHP lost, to protect Baykal from protestors. The workers had acted on information that some CHP members who were not pleased by the election results would gather at the headquarters to call on Baykal to resign.
Another recent protest by workers employed by a CHP-governed municipality was sparked by a controversial decision by Karşıyaka Mayor Cevat Durak, who subcontracted municipal work to 320 employees from a private firm. The former workers of the Karşıyaka Municipality held a protest, during which a plastic bottle was thrown at CHP leader Baykal.
