Workers who were fired by the Istanbul municipality yesterday continued their protests in front of the municipality building and voiced their demands for justice.
Worker unions including HİZMET-İŞ, MEDYA-İŞ, OLEYİŞ, ÖZ GIDA İŞ, ÖZ ORMAN-İŞ and ÖZ GÜVEN-SEN gathered yesterday in front of the municipality building to show their support to workers who were fired without cause. During the protests, they also made a joint statement to the press.
Until now, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu from the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has not given a positive response to workers who want their jobs back.
Nearly 1,400 people have been fired from their jobs at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality without cause. The firings took place following the Qurban Bayram (Eid al-Adha) holiday, catching people off guard.
The first department that had to face the bad news was MEDYA AŞ, which lost 63 of its 184 personnel. The Istanbul Electric Tram and Tunnel Company (İETT) followed, losing 850 of its drivers by the end of August. BELTUR, on the other hand, has lost 175 of its workers so far. At İSPARK, another branch of the municipality which provides parking services throughout the city, 238 workers have been fired by the new administration.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday criticized the CHP for firing people from municipalities reminding listeners that the CHP assured voters before the elections that they would not fire anyone from the municipalities if they win. Erdoğan said that the CHP lied to citizens despite pre-election promises.
"They said they would not fire anyone from the municipalities, yet they did. There are some things that we will do about it," he added.
