Diary of resistance

Labour Service

STREETS BELONG TO WORKERS

Hundreds of workers and labourers have risen up against dismissals, unpaid wages, seized severance payments, excessive workload, long working hours, lack of safety measures and mobbing. Across the country, workers are speaking out against these violations, which have virtually become law under the government’s pro-capital policies. From Ankara to Van, from Kocaeli to Tokat, hundreds of workers from various sectors are coming together to fight and resist for a humane life.

COURIERS SWITCHED OFF THEIR ENGINES

In Van, couriers working for the company Tıkla Gelsin stopped work in protest against rights violations and unfair working conditions. The couriers taking part in the action said that their leave had been cancelled by the company management, that they were constantly subjected to mobbing, and forced to work under heavy conditions. They also stated that they were working long distances for low pay. The couriers announced that they would continue their action until their demands were met.

HEALTH WORKERS ROSE UP

Workers of Ankara University Faculty of Medicine held a press statement demanding retroactive payments. Yesterday, health workers gathered in front of İbni Sina Hospital carrying a banner reading “Tax paid in advance, payment in instalments!” Hospital security tried to prevent the protest. Refusing to allow interference, the health workers carried out their protest first in front of the hospital and then inside. The LEFT Party Ankara Provincial Organisation also supported the action.

A WEEK IN THE STRIKE TENT

The strike by 260 workers, 166 of them women, at Smart Solar in Gebze, Kocaeli, has completed its first week today. The metal workers, organised under the United Metalworkers’ Union (Birleşik Metal-İş), have been using their collective power for seven days, demanding that the anti-union employer sign a collective bargaining agreement. The employer offered only a 7 percent flat raise in response to the workers’ 75 percent wage demand, which the workers described as “mockery”.

ŞIK MAKAS RESISTANCE SPREADS

The resistance of workers at the Şık Makas / Crs Denim factory in the Tokat Organised Industrial Zone has continued for three weeks. After going on an unofficial strike because they had not received their wages, 800 workers were dismissed. Together with their union, the United Textile Weaving and Leather Workers’ Union (BİRTEK-SEN), they have been holding their ground for 22 days. Meanwhile, the KESK İzmir Branches Platform held a press statement in Alsancak yesterday to support the Şık Makas workers.

DETENTION FOR DEBT COLLECTION

Workers at the Halkbank construction site in İstanbul Finance Centre held a protest yesterday in front of the contractor company YDA Group, which failed to pay severance and overtime wages. Police intervened in the protest organised by the Construction Workers’ Union (İnşaat-İş) and the Dev Yapı-İş Union, detaining four workers and İnşaat-İş General President Yunus Özgür. The workers said they had been demanding the rights owed to them for months, but the company kept stalling. They also stressed that their overtime and public holiday wages remained unpaid.

Note: This article is translated from the original article titled Direniş günlüğü, published in BirGün newspaper on October 28, 2025.