250,000 Stay Out On Strike

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

d VT21296; Sun, 01 Oct 1995 16:46:36 -0800



250,000 Stay Out On Strike
      ISTANBUL, Sept 26 (Reuter) - A strike by more than 250,000 Turkish
public sector workers was poised to enter its second week on Tuesday and
union leaders threatened to keep up the pressure until the government met the
pay demands.

    ``We now have the largest trade union strike in Turkey's history and we
expect political parties and the government to take note,'' Yildirim Koc,
adviser to the president of the Turk-Is labour confederation, told Reuters.

    The strike comes as Prime Minister Tansu Ciller struggles to put together
a new coalition following the collapse of the government last week. She has
offered the junior partner post to the conservative Motherland Party.

    Workers in leather and textile factories were scheduled to join the
nationwide strike over the next two days, with the total number of strikers
expected to hit almost 400,000 by mid-October, the Turk-Is labour
confederation said.

    Turk-Is called the strike on September 20 to protest the government's pay
rise offer of an average 5.4 percent for the year. The average pre-tax
salaray for a public sector worker is 18.5 million TL ($381).

    The government has said it cannot afford to offer the workers more
because of an austerity programme put into effect last year to bring down
spiralling inflation, cut the budget deficit and speed-up privatisation.

    Union officials say the wide effects of the strike may not be felt for a
few weeks, when the idling of maintenance workers for the railways or
highways starts to effect repairs and construction.

    The exporters' board warned the shutdown on Monday of the country's main
ports by the dockworkers' strike could threaten one-fifth of the estimated
$1.5 billion goods exported monthly while fears of a sugar shortage are high
because of the closure of 25 processing plants.

    Union leaders say they will not call the workers back to the shop floors
until Ankara makes an offer that would at least cover inflation. Inflation is
expected to be about 70 percent in 1995.


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