Turkish union leader resigns in wake of Tekel worker outrage

Mustafa Türkel, secretary-general of the union that has backed and organized the ongoing labor action of Tekel workers in Ankara, resigned Tuesday. 

The move came one day after Turkey’s four major union federations, including the Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions, or Türk-İş, convened on Monday to update a roadmap designed to solve the workers’ problems.

The workers are all former employees of the formerly state-owned alcohol and tobacco monopoly.

Türkel resigned Tuesday after Tekel workers expressed their dissatisfaction with the decisions taken by the unions in Monday’s meeting.

The unions planned to hold rallies across Turkey on Thursday, complemented by two-hour sit-down actions across the country on Saturday.

Tekel workers, however, demanded stronger actions from the unions and protested against the Türk-İş administration, calling on some managers to resign.

The workers have been protesting in front of the Türk-İş headquarters in Ankara for 70 days in anger at the government’s refusal to meet their demands.

They officially became unemployed on Jan. 31 when the government closed the state-owned Tekel units that were not included in the privatization process.

The government paid the workers severance pay and gave them a month to accept work at other public institutions under Article 4/C of law no. 657, which regulates the working conditions of public employees.  

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has warned the protestors that police will use force to end the actions if the workers do not disperse by the end of February.