Öz İplik İş Union President Rafi Ay and Vice Presidents met with members of the press at the ‘July 24 Journalists and Press Day Traditional Dinner’ held for the 7th time in Ankara. Vice Presidents Muzaffer Birdoğan, İbrahim Yıldız, Engin Doğan, Turgay Ulutürk, Press Department Head Didem Demir, HAK-İŞ confederation, of which the union is a member, and the press advisors and personnel of the affiliated unions participated in the program. Aside from the social consensus in the fight against inflation, the importance of unionisation and social dialogue was emphasized during the program.
Rafi Ay pointed out that there are serious economic problems ahead and said that inflation affects the wage workers and lower-income workers the most. Ay disclosed: “As workers, we cannot keep silent about this course” and underlined that one of their top priorities is to fight inflation with a social consensus as soon as possible.
“A significant part of the problems we experience today stems from the suppression of the labour movement”
Rafi Ay said; “A significant part of the problems we experience today stems from the suppression of the labour movement and the absence of a unionized working life,” and stated that the first step to overcoming the country’s economic and social problems is to remove the obstacles to unionisation. Ay continued: “The capital and the employer side must understand that it is necessary to protect the job, the worker, the economy and the country, not profitability, and must undertake the burden of this transformation process now. Managing this historically important process also passes through unionised society and most importantly, the unionisation of workers. Employers must realize; You have no other choice than a unionised society!”
Ay emphasized that in order to manage this process, the cooperation of workers, employers and politics-government is required, and the hundred-year-old solution ‘social dialogue’ is necessary. He disclosed: “Unfortunately, the employer culture in our country still has not grasped that the workers are one of the essential elements of this job. Capital has no meaning without labour. It is not possible to have a healthy workplace and a healthy economy without labour negotiations and social dialogue.”
“Öz İplik İş has reached the stage of becoming the union with the highest number of members”
Rafi Ay, noting that Öz İplik İş has reached the stage of becoming the union with the highest number of members in its sector, explained that their ultimate goal is to reach an order where everyone in the sector can benefit from the labour negotiation system and labour agreement, achieving the highest possible number in the sector.
Ay added that one of the members of Öz İplik İş at a workplace in Karabük was battered and threatened with the attempt of a rival union to end their membership and said; “Of course, the incident has been submitted to the court and we will do our best to ensure that this bullying does not go unpunished.”