Civil servants stopped life for one day

Eighteen-year-old Ebru was frustrated by the doctors and other strikers she saw outside the Istanbul Medical School Hospital when she brought her younger brother for a post-surgery check up. Despite her feelings of irritation, she did not hesitate to support the strikers.  

“They should be paid justly for their labor. We need them. They are right [to strike]”, Ebru said, declining to give her last name. “It is just so hard to bring him here,” she said, pointing to her 7-year-old brother Ferhat, who had huge bandages on his hand. Both had just undergone a long morning trip from the Anatolian side of the city to this major hospital on the European side.

Teachers, doctors, nurses, mailmen and all the other public employees stopped working for a day across Turkey on Wednesday, demanding the rights for collective bargaining and to strike. In Turkey public employees do not have the right to collective bargaining, even though they discuss matters with the state regarding the right to collective meetings. In end, the state makes the last decision. Public employees do not have the legal right to go on strike. Public employees received a wage increase of 2.5 percent, which is a source of frustration as well.

Wednesday’s strike led to the closure of hospitals and schools stopped giving classes and trains stopped. Disputes between strikers and train passengers occurred in various locations and some schools remained closed. Except for emergency cases, and patients already hospitalized, many people were denied access to health care services at several hospitals. 

Workers’ trade unions, professional chambers and political parties and groups supported the strike. The strike was jointly organized by the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions, or KESK and the Turkish Public Workers’ Labor Union, or KAMU-SEN, despite having their own different positions on the political spectrum. Three smaller public sector confederations went on strike as well. The total number of members belonging to the confederations is over 630,000. There was also an imam named Yakup Özen who closed his mosque and joined the strike.

Ebru was not the only one at the Istanbul Medical School Hospital who waited among the strikers to see a doctor. The hospital, working on an appointment system, did not schedule appointments on the day of the strike. Only patients with laboratory results were allowed to consult doctors.

“Everyone should go on strike,” said Şükriye Çelik, 59, who was waiting for her husband to be hospitalized. Due to the strike they were unable to see a doctor, yet remained supportive of the strike. “My husband and I thought about participating in the strike for a second. Everyone should be supportive,” she said.

There were also people who were against the strike as well. “There should not be a strike. People are waiting here,” said an old man who needed to see a doctor. When the doors of the clinic opened, he rushed toward them without giving his name. Meanwhile, as public employees gathered in front of the Istanbul Medical School Hospital, the crowd proceeded to march toward Beyazıt Square and blocked traffic in the process. As they marched, public employees chanted slogans protesting high price increases for services but small wage increases.

“If the government does not obey international law but instead makes fun of us, we will make this strike even larger,” said Sami Evren the head of KESK. “The prime minister does not know what it means to be unemployed,” he said. Evren, in another speech earlier in the morning in front of the Haydarpaşa train station, said they hoped citizens would understand the need for the strike. “Ultimately, the strike is intended to enable us to provide better services to them,” he said.

  Trains stopped, passengers reacted

Five trains from Istanbul to Sakarya were stopped late at night at the Arifiye train station and did not go on. Turkish State Railways transferred passengers to their destination by bus. A trade union official said, they allowed other trains to continue due to an accumulation of train traffic, CNNTürk news site reported.

Train services were also halted in the central Anatolian city of Eskişehir, although high-speed trains continued. Meanwhile some citizens reacted against the disrupted service, reported television channels. A group of passengers at the Eskişehir train station abducted the driver when the train arrived at the station to prevent him from participating in the strike. Police intervened and rescued driver Erol Sarı. Trains in Istanbul did not run as well.

The Güney Express, a train that runs between the southern province of Adana and southeastern province of Diyarbakır, was stopped near İslahye city. Almost 100 passengers were transferred to minibuses, while occasional arguments broke out between passengers and strikers.

Civil servants in the eastern province of Erzurum made a press statement in front of the governor’s office. They wanted to enter to train station but police prohibited their entrance.