Türkiye Maden-İş Central Anatolia Branch Chair Talih Kocabıyık announced that the principal amounts of severance pay owed to approximately 400 of the workers who have been seeking their rights in Ankara for approximately 40 days had been paid. In a statement at the Türkiye Maden-İş Union Guesthouse, it was also reported that some legal receivables had been paid. Kocabıyık said the interest on the severance pay would be determined through an expert calculation and that the struggle for the remaining receivables would continue after the money subject to individual enforcement proceedings and transferred to the pension system was credited to the accounts.
Kocabıyık said that meetings had been held with the company executives and company owner Sebahattin Yıldız, adding that the executives had admitted their mistakes and that Yıldız would consider having the workers return to work. He noted that at the meeting planned for next week with the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, the rights arising from the 2016 and 2023 collective bargaining agreements, as well as the severance pay issue of approximately 60-70 people who retired during the TMSF period and were not transferred to Yıldızlar SSS Holding, would be brought up. Arguing that declining demand for domestic coal had increased unemployment and problems in the sector, Kocabıyık said they would continue the struggle until everyone’s rights had been fully paid, even though approximately 300 workers had not joined the protests.
Why it matters
Although the start of payments shows that some of the demands in the action that has been ongoing for approximately 40 days have been met, the process concerning all of the workers’ receivables has not yet been completed. Issues such as leaving the calculation of severance pay interest to an expert and the amounts transferred to individual enforcement proceedings and the pension system being credited to the relevant accounts are creating a new area for monitoring the scope of the payment and the amount remaining. The meeting planned with the Ministry will bring up not only the situation of the current workers but also that of retirees whose rights and compensation arising from collective bargaining agreements have not been paid. The company’s consideration of the option of workers returning to their jobs leaves open the question of how the employment relationship will take shape once the receivables are paid. The decline in demand for domestic coal shows that the issue is linked to the employment problem in the sector, beyond the dispute between the company and the workers.