Buca Municipality employees went on strike.

Approximately 2,000 workers organized in the İmar A.Ş., a company of Buca Municipality, went on strike after failing to reach an agreement in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) negotiations. Savaş Aras, the President of DISK General İş İzmir Branch No. 5, stated, “There is a collective agreement figure signed in Bornova Municipality. There, everything was signed for 44,500. We are not demanding all of the municipality’s income sources. As Buca workers, we do not want to fall behind the collective agreements that have ended in İzmir.”

Workers who see the previous Mayor Erhan Kılıç as “worker-friendly” celebrated the collective bargaining agreement with halays, but this year, when the figure proposed by the new Mayor Görkem Duman was deemed low, they stopped working.

After failing to reach a consensus between DISK General İş İzmir Branch No. 5 and the Social Democratic Public Employers Union (SODEM SEN) representing the municipality, about 2,000 employees working at İmar A.Ş. went on strike. Workers gathered in front of Buca Municipality as well as at the construction sites, hanging strike banners.

“We do not want to fall behind the collective agreements ending in İzmir”

During the CBA meeting, after the SODEM-SEN’s offer of 42,000 TL, which includes road, food, bonuses, and other social rights for a two-year period, was not accepted by the union management and workers, Savaş Aras, the President of DISK General İş İzmir Branch No. 5, made statements regarding the developments while gathering with employees in front of Buca Municipality. Aras stated, “After our negotiations, we waited until midnight at the last point. The employer’s final offer was 42,000 TL, including food cards, bonuses, and salaries. We found these figures insufficient. We provided examples of collective agreements that ended in Karşıyaka and Bornova in recent weeks. A certain wage pool has formed in the metropolitan districts of İzmir. There is a collective agreement figure signed in Bornova Municipality. There, everything was signed for 44,500. We are not demanding all of the municipality’s income sources. We, as Buca workers, do not want to fall behind the collective agreements that have ended in İzmir, and that is our entire thought. We invite the municipal administration and SODEM SEN officials back to the table. We are open to all kinds of negotiations, but we do not want to fall below the wage figures that have been established in İzmir. Buca workers produce labor just like Bornova workers do. Therefore, we demand to be treated equally in the same way. Currently, around 750-800 of our friends are here. We have a total of about 1,660 members. You know that ten percent of these must be present in workplaces due to the law. The number of friends who will participate in the strike should be around 1,500.”

“He has made his own cost calculation”

Regarding a written statement signed by Mayor Görkem Duman shared on the Buca Municipality social media account, Aras shared his thoughts: “Our Mayor tells us whatever the total cost calculation is. But when we take out our food card from that, when we remove our bonus items, the resulting figures are not these figures. This may be the money that comes out of the municipality management’s cash, but we want a real calculation of the amounts we receive overall based on salaries. He has made his own cost calculation. He may be right in his own way. But when the opposition, including the main opposition in this country, talks about 30,000 TL for minimum wage, saying that I am giving twice the minimum wage, it seems a bit ironic to mention 42,000 TL.”