Upon a call from the Tobacco, Alcoholic Beverages and Food Subsidiary Workers Union of Turkey (Tek Gıda-İş)TEKEL workers vote for a ballot today (6 January). Workers of TEKEL, former monopoly holder for alcoholic beverages and tobacco products, have been protesting against the loss of personal employers rights in the course of privatization in Ankara since 17 December. The outcome of the ballot will decide whether the resistance will be continued.

The union's General Secretary Macit Amaç told bianet: "The ballot will be a response to the government's criticism. The workers will decide themselves whether to keep the resistance up or not. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said 'They are on the streets because of provocations of a certain group'. It is our aim to highlight the workers' right to self-determination".

The result of the ballot will be announced at the Headquarters of the Turkish Confederation of Labour Unions (Türk-İş) on Thursday, 7 January.

How workers are voting

12,000 workers from about 40 TEKEL work places in 27 provinces are called to make their vote in the Tek Gıda-İş centres between 11.00 am and 1.00 pm today. Workers who vote in favour of the resistance use a white card, the ones who prefer to end the protest insert a red card into the ballot-box. The voting takes place open to the public.

Workers' reactions to the ballot

General Secretary Amaç said that workers reacted to the ballot by saying 'What is the point of it? We came here to resist, to protect our rights and to earn our bread anyways'.

Amaç conceded, "However, we wanted them to take the decision. We think that it is correct to have the workers take the decision regarding the solution presented by the Prime Minister".

Ramifications of the result

Amaç explained that a negative result of the vote equals the acceptance of the prime minister's recommendation. In this case, there would be not much left to do.The workers would be tied to article 657 of the public employers law and would become members of the unions assigned by the institutions.

If the ballot is decided in favour of the resistance, the union is determined to enlarge the protest actions. Amaç stated, "Workers and their families will come to Ankara from all over Turkey and our struggle for rights will become a mass organization. And of course also the prime minister will see the determination of the workers and might talk about the TEKEL resistance with more consideration in the future".

About the resistance

Amaç assessed the TEKEL resistance for bianet as follows:

"We are resisting for 22 days now in the frosty temperatures in Ankara. People who said in the beginning we would not even last for three days are now surprised about the endurance of the TEKEL workers' resistance".

"The workers were greatly supported by people from various stratums of society. People shared their last pennies with the TEKEL workers. Just this gesture is very meaningful on its own".

"TEKEL workers became a platform for people in this country who are excluded, oppressed and ignored. And most importantly, the resisting workers stood up in a time when Erdoğan frightens and intimidates everybody".

Tek Gıda-İş General Secretary Amaç claimed, "It is our aim to earn our bread and take our rights and then we go back". (BÇ/VK)