20,000 Turkish workers begin new period of struggle

Around 20,000 protesters have gathered in the Turkish capital Ankara in support of tobacco workers locked in a labor row with the government and say they will fight to gain their rights.

Tekel workers have been on strike for over two months now demanding changes to their working status. They complain about the loss of labor rights after the privatization of the company and layoffs.

On Saturday, which was the 68th day of the strike, the six major labor unions, opposition party members, and activists across the country travelled to Ankara in a sign of solidarity with the Tekel workers.

The chairman of the labor union Tek-Gida Is, Mustafa Turkel, addressing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that he should know there will be no looking back now. “We are giving up defending ourselves and we are entering a new period of struggle to gain new rights.”

The protestors marched under close police scrutiny through central Ankara to a pedestrian area where hundreds of workers left jobless by the privatization of the state tobacco company have been camping since early December.

The talks between union representatives and the government came to an impasse three weeks ago when the union rejected a government offer of severance pay or contracts with lower wages.

Erdogan has said the protests are illegal and has set a deadline for the workers to end their strike, giving them until the end of February to return to work.