Sema Keban, who has been working at the Chamber of Mechanical Engineers Istanbul Branch for 19.5 years, was dismissed for protesting against low wages for not working for a day. Keban, who has been subjected to lies, manipulation and slander for 2 months, said, “TMMOB is an institution that declared September 19 as Solidarity Day. Now, the same institution is seeking to punish those who protested the work stoppage.” he said. Following the warning work stoppage on August 14 due to low wages, an investigation was launched against the employees and a change of duty was imposed. Sema Keban, who did not accept this attack, was dismissed from her job for different reasons.
A press statement was made in front of MMO today regarding the issue. Sema Keban, who was dismissed from her job, said that they started to seek rights because they could not get along with their colleagues on low wages; They stated that they could not receive a response to their requests for improvement in the inflation*1.2 rate and therefore they exercised their right not to work.
Keban said, “In these institutions, our chambers, our unions, our mass organizations, the managers and employees are the ones who walk together for the same goals, the only difference is that the employees continue their lives with the income they earn from here. "Recently, not only here but in many of our institutions, this unity has been unilaterally dealt a blow by the rulers, the elected officials have begun to act as if the sole arbiters of the institution have begun to act, and the traditions of the institutions and the efforts made there for years have been disregarded," he said.
“IT IS NOT THE FIRST TIME THE PROBLEMS OF MAKE MIND ARE ON OUR AGENDA”
Stating that the chambers have been managed with left-wing culture, values and understanding since the 1970s, that they have been serving the society and its members in line with these values, and that this understanding is the backbone of the activities carried out internally, Keban continued his words as follows:
“Recently, personal desires and ambitions, 'I said it and it happened', 'you don't understand, I know' etc. The understanding expressed as such and the practical applications of this understanding have been the approach tried to be kept alive. When we, as employees of our Chambers that we will manage together, demand an improvement in our wages through compulsory and voluntary work, we would expect our Chamber and our Chamber managers to continue to walk with the same principles as us, and at least to be addressed. In our institutions, where personnel policy and wage policy are no longer in question, re-addressing them in a healthy way will continue to be a part of our struggle.
"This is not the first time that financial difficulties have been on the agenda of MMO employees. While discussions on this issue have been going on for years, the abnormal and gaining momentum of employee turnover actually summarizes our situation more clearly than we can describe in words."
“Our request for wage improvement at the rate of TURKSTAT inflation rate*1.2 was shared with the Branch Board of Directors during the process and forwarded to the Chamber Headquarters. "At this point, we have repeatedly conveyed to them that we will not be content with just conveying our demands this time, in conditions where we cannot get along, and that we will make every effort to ensure that they are met, and we insistently emphasize the need to take concrete steps." Keban stated that they exercised their right to not work for 1 day on August 14, and that this action was also carried out in Adana, Mersin, Diyarbakır and Kocaeli Branches.
“IF ANYONE THINKS THEY CAN FIND A BETTER JOB, LET THEM GO”
Keban continued his statement as follows:
“On the day of the action, he himself spread our silent, warning action with the letter he wrote to the Chamber Center 18 Branch Board of Directors, the provincial and district board of directors across the country, and all Chamber employees, and with this text, the response we received from our professional Chamber, of which we are employees, to those who protested, was 'more If anyone thinks they can find a good job, go for it.
“Then, our Branch management stated that 'trust relations were damaged'; A number of steps were taken, such as defense requests, changing the place of duty of our colleagues, forcing them to take leave, dismissal as a result of different orientation processes, taking over their duties, a one-day deduction in wages and payment of insurance over 29 days, but despite this, we continued the negotiation processes. During the processes where we conveyed our demands for the Chamber Boards to be included in the discussion on this issue, attacks continued with defense requests and investigations. The last step of these attacks so far is me for two months; I was forced to resign due to lies, manipulation and smear policies, and because of the imposition of a change of duty, which I refused due to my health problems, and the termination of my employment contract after stating that I would not resign; It is notified in writing by the decision of the Chamber Board of Directors. No matter how they explain the reasons for all these steps taken, I am aware that the real reason for this is our one-day action. We know that TMMOB is an institution that supported the action of engineers, architects and urban planners who stopped work on September 19, 1979, and declared September 19 as Solidarity Day to commemorate this action. Now, the same institution is seeking to punish those who protested the work stoppage.”
“I INVITE EVERYONE TO TAKE CARE OF THEIR ROOMS”
“The current understanding established in the branch and the head office has gone beyond all boundaries and intervened in my personal e-mails with MMO extensions and not only prevented them from reaching me, but also kept track of them. The mentality that tried to justify my dismissal by hiding behind the excuse of protecting personal data throughout the process ultimately had no problem openly and consciously trampling on the protection of personal data.
“The process that took place; It should not cause further damage to all components of the Chamber and the struggle that has been built by paying the price for so many years. Therefore, it is now everyone's historical and inescapable responsibility to resolve this situation with a practice in line with the Chamber's tradition and social struggle. The future will judge us on whether we act in accordance with this responsibility.
“I maintain my belief that we can create a stronger Chamber with the common wisdom of all components that support life, people and labor; I invite all our members to come together in a formation where problems will be discussed under equal and free conditions and to protect their Chambers.
“I invite you to follow our struggle, in which we share only the outlines of the process with this press release, and I thank you all for your participation.”
(NEWS CENTER)
