TURKEY-POLITICS: Coal Miners Take to Streets Over Privatisation

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Nadire Mater

ISTANBUL, Nov 23 1994 (IPS) - Some 40,000 coal miners and their families took to the streets in north-western Turkey, Wednesday, as a part of a week-long protest against government privatisation schemes.

The city of Zonguldak came to a standstill when thousands of miners and supporters joined in a massive outdoor rally despite the heavy rain.

Demonstrators called on the government to suspend their decision to close down inefficient coal mines prior to privatisation schemes.

The Turkish government says that losses in the mining industry have become unbearable mainly due to outdated and inefficient coal mines.

The week-long protests have seen striking coal miners supported by taxi drivers and shop keepers aware of the problems that would be caused by coal mine closures in the towns and cities in north western Turkey.

Not only coal miners have been protesting at privatisation. The week started with 150,000 postal workers refusing to deliver mail and repair telephone connections.

On Tuesday railroad workers halted rail transportation throughout the country. Meanwhile, health workers are reportedly preparing for massive countrywide protest — in addition to a call by the school teachers union to withdraw their labour.

The strikes coincide with sky-rocketing inflation rate during the months of September and October.

According to trade union statistics the minimum wage for a public servant is set at around 110 dollars a month while the estimated minimum subsistence for a family has risen to 159 dollars.

However, when rent, clothing, transportation and entertainment is costed the family’s monthly expenses rise to 498 dollars.

The highest salaries on offer for senior public servants is some 415 dollars a month. Yet the Turkish government in the face of increasing trade union frustration has only offered the 2.2 million public employees a 26 percent salary increase against an inflation rate of 115 percent in 1994.

As a result of the raging inflation public employees have already lost 60 percent of their real income in 1994, Istanbul union officials say.