İzmir municipial workers strike marks one week
İZMİR
The strike involving 23,000 municipal workers in the western province of İzmir is set to enter its second week on June 4, with no breakthrough yet in wage negotiations between the unions and the municipality.
The dispute stems from a controversial policy enacted by the previous municipal administration, which hired certain workers at higher salaries than others in similar roles.
The current administration under Mayor Cemil Tugay argued that the city’s budget cannot sustain across-the-board raises at such elevated levels.
While Tugay maintained that the municipality remains open to dialogue, the unions continue to hold firm on their wage demands.
The walkout has effectively paralyzed critical municipal services, including public transportation such as buses and the metro, as well as parking operations, kindergartens, and essential sanitation and waste management services.
Overflowing garbage bins and severe traffic congestion have come to characterize daily life across the Türkiye’s third most populous city.
The mayor joined residents in Alsancak to help clean up mounting piles of uncollected garbage during the night this week.
“We slept peacefully last night after that cleanup was done,” he said.
Tugay earlier noted that the municipality’s wage offer is generous, particularly in light of Türkiye’s current economic conditions. While the unions are calling for monthly salaries ranging between 82,000 and 94,000 Turkish Liras (approximately $2,100 to $2,400), the municipality has offered figures between 60,000 and 76,000 liras.
Emphasizing that the national minimum wage currently stands at 22,104 liras, Tugay argued that the city's proposal is both fair and fiscally responsible.
