"Municipality or workers? CHP leader Özel chose his side in the strike in İzmir."

02.06.2025 15:31

The leader of the CHP, Özgür Özel, made statements regarding the strike that has been ongoing in İzmir for five days, saying, "Just as they have rights, the municipal administration has rights as well. When you abandon the grounds of legitimacy and drift to extreme positions, you start to lose social support." He thus expressed a stance in favor of the municipal administration.

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The strike of workers continues as no results have emerged from the collective bargaining negotiations concerning approximately 23,000 employees in the subsidiaries of the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality. The strike of workers who are members of the Genel-İş Union, working in various service areas at İZELMAN, İZENERJİ, and EGEŞEHİR companies, is disrupting services in the city.

ÖZGÜR ÖZEL CHOSE HIS SIDE

In a statement regarding the issue, CHP Chairman Özgür Özel exhibited a stance in favor of the municipal administration. Starting his speech by saying, "Ultimately, union organization is a right that we strongly support," Özel continued, "We have no words to say against the use of this right. Politics, including union politics and struggle, is conducted according to what is reasonable in our political actions. There are average conscience, average intelligence, and average expectations. As you stray from this, as you lose your reasonableness, you begin to lose support. I cannot tell anyone how to defend their rights or interfere in their work, but when you abandon the ground of legitimacy and drift to extremes, you start to lose social support. I have been an advocate for rights for years and have managed professional organizations for years. Based on my own experiences, if the worker and their demands should be supported in the public conscience, but they are being criticized this much, then we need to look back. Did we lose the balance somewhere? Or did the balance get lost in the past, and now should we try to take this further with an opportunity?" he expressed.

"ARE YOU GOING TO CALL THE PEOPLE OF İZMİR STRIKEBREAKERS?"

Continuing his remarks, Özel stated that it is wrong to label the people of İzmir picking up trash in front of their own homes as "strikebreakers." He said, "No one should expect us to speak ill of the workers who have gone on strike. But just as they have rights, the municipal administration has rights as well. It is not right to say that the Mayor, who has put on gloves, cannot pick up trash while you cannot collect this trash, you cannot act as a strikebreaker. If you bring in another worker and temporarily employ a non-union group to collect that trash, that is against the law, you cannot do that. But today, the people of İzmir went out and removed the trash in front of their own homes. Are you going to call the people of İzmir strikebreakers? That’s why these issues are sensitive; the CHP is a party that guarantees the freedom of organization and has brought and defended this issue. We will proceed within the framework of courtesy and rules. A solution will definitely be found," he stated.