May Day in Ankara | "I felt stronger than in the factory"

Satı BURUNUCU

The May Day rally in Ankara took place in Tandoğan square this year with the longest march route of the previous years. While the participation of political parties was high, we should mention the low participation of trade unions.

We talked to the workers who marched in the cortege of the Labour Party (EMEP) and participated in May Day for the first time. Workers from 6 factories from Sincan and Başkent Organised Industry Regions who participated in the rally shared that there were no unions in 3 factories and the ones that were there did not call for May Day. They said that they participated with the call of the Labour Party. A woman worker who said that it was her first time participating in a May Day rally said "I felt stronger than in the factory".

The OSTİM workers said that they had prepared for May Day almost a month ago, and that they had gathered in OSTİM before coming to the rally to celebrate and call for the rally by passing in front of the workshops, and that this was the first time they had come to the rally with the workers supporting AKP.

In the cortege, which also included child workers, trainee workers from high schools said that they prepared their own banners. "There is nothing better than standing up for one's rights. From now on, I will always be one," said one worker excitedly. "Trainee workers are not slaves" was written on the banner he had prepared.

Although the signing of the public collective agreement was postponed until after May Day and millions of workers were condemned to low wages, long hours and harsh working conditions, Türk-İş Cınfederation only announced that it would celebrate May Day in Adana and no work was carried out in the workplaces. Despite this decision, Tez Koop-İş, TÜMTİS, Petrol-İş, TGS members participated in the rally. The municipal workers' union authorised in Ankara Metropolitan Municipality did not participate in the rally. There was participation from the employees of the metropolitan municipality and its affiliated organisations behind the Ankara Municipality Employees Association. However, the participation of both the branches affiliated to Türk-İş and the unions affiliated to DİSK was quite limited. The participation of the unions affiliated to KESK and Birleşik Kamu-İş was also low due to the lack of preparation for organising the rally in the workplaces.

Workers from Harb-İş, a union affiliated to Türk-İş, participated with banners and placards they had prepared despite their union. Harb-İş members were angry with the confederation. They carried banners reading "No passage for yellow unions", "We will not allow the privatisation of our workplaces", "Risk premium should be paid to those working in the workshop.".

Regarding the May Day 2023 Ankara rally, it can be said that it was a rally with high participation of political parties, youth, women, students, but extremely low participation of trade unions before 14 May elections. Despite the central position of Türk-İş, the lack of a local unity at the Ankara level and the lack of a strong preparation around common demands in the workplaces where DİSK and KESK unions are organised showed itself as a weakness on May Day.

However, if strong preparations had been made for a joint May Day, not one but thousands of workers would have been able to say "I felt stronger than in the factory".