Nearly 23,000 workers employed by Izelman, Izenerji, and Egeşehir, subsidiaries of the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, have been on strike since 28 May.

The strike is being led by Branches No. 1, 2, 3, and 9 of the General Services Workers’ Union (Genel-Iş) under the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK). Thousands of workers have rejected the municipality's 29.16 percent wage increase proposal, describing it as a “poverty wage,” and are demanding equal pay for equal work.

Speaking on the fifth day of the strike, workers criticized Mayor Cemil Tugay’s efforts to break the strike, particularly his act of collecting garbage himself, and stressed that they do not want to be pitted against the public.

We want justice in the workplace

Ismail, one of the striking workers, explained their demands and said that the public was being misinformed: “Our demand is to receive the same wages as other workers doing the same job. In other words, we want justice in the workplace. The salaries being presented to the public, 80,000, 90,000, even 100,000 Turkish lira, are figures that include everything, including the taxes the employer is obligated to pay. Cemil Tugay even included the cost of work uniforms he was supposed to provide and began presenting those numbers to the public. They are trying to turn the public against the workers. But even if the public and workers are brought face to face, one thing is clear: we will not give up our rights."

The worker added: "Here are our demands: we are supposed to receive raises to account for inflation, but we haven’t received an inflation adjustment in a year. We’ve been crushed by inflation for a year now. Cemil Tugay is even considering removing the inflation adjustment altogether. What he really wants is to give us a raise for two years in one go. In a country where the minimum wage is 22,000 Turkish lira, to say ‘we cannot pay this much’ is the same as saying the entire country should live in poverty and misery. This is what we are reacting to. We don’t want to live in hunger or misery. We just want to be paid for the labor we give. He talks about 50 articles and side clauses. But what he calls a ‘side clause’ includes things like menstrual leave for women and family assistance payments granted by the state and given to everyone.

It feels like we’re entering into a collective agreement not in favor of workers, but in favor of the employer. In that case, Cemil Tugay should get a mandate and start continuously cutting salaries. Our collective agreement is starting to resemble that. We have shared our demands with the public. As Cemil Tugay claims, we are not asking for ‘outrageous amounts.’"

We expect support from the people of Izmir

 Sevda, another striking worker, criticized Mayor Cemil Tugay for engaging in strikebreaking by collecting garbage himself.

Contrary to popular belief, she said they had received significant support from the public and added: “As seen on social media and in some news outlets, last night Cemil Tugay went out onto the streets with a team he organized and tried to collect garbage. Thankfully, the union had anticipated such interference, and the strike monitors on duty quickly informed the local branch leadership. Within five to ten minutes, union administrators reached Cemil Tugay and voiced their protest. They told him directly that what he was doing amounted to strikebreaking. Despite these warnings and the public reaction from those present, he continued trying to collect trash and have others do the same. Since last night, this situation has drawn strong reactions from both us workers and the people of Izmir."

The worker continued: "Union officials once again condemned Cemil Tugay’s actions and stated that he intends to continue this effort to break the strike and will attempt to block any resistance to it. One part of the attempt to pit us against the public is this act of strikebreaking itself. By saying, ‘I’m collecting trash in your place, I’m doing your job,’ he’s trying to provoke hostility against us and turn us into targets. He’s been doing this from the very beginning. But despite all of this, we continue to receive meaningful support from the public. After what happened last night, we expect even stronger solidarity from the people of Izmir. We call on them to continue standing with us, the workers of the Metropolitan Municipality."

A smear campaign fueled by ‘AK Troll’ logic

Baran Doğan, another worker on strike, pointed out that much of the backlash against workers on social media resembled the 'AK Troll' methods often used in government-sponsored disinformation campaigns.

Doğan emphasized that the workers genuinely want to return to the negotiating table and resolve the situation as soon as possible: "The strike process has actually been ongoing at the table for about five and a half to six months. But while we were negotiating in good faith, meetings were constantly postponed. Even when dates were set and announced by the union, they were often canceled at the last minute. And when meetings did happen, the municipality did not bring forward any serious offers for a long time. In the early talks, for example, they proposed a laughable 11.46 percent increase. And this despite Mayor Cemil Tugay saying on 12 January that ‘we will not condemn the people of Izmir to starvation wages.’ They didn’t just offer a poverty wage, they proposed less than a quarter of the 30 percent raise made to the national minimum wage. From the beginning, these negotiations have been tense and insecure from the workers’ perspective."

Doğan said: "Despite the lack of serious offers, various false reports started circulating. Some claimed, ‘workers are demanding 113,000 Turkish lira,’ others said ‘180,000 Turkish lira,’ some even claimed ‘they want more than the governor earns,’ or ‘they are asking for a 100 percent raise.’ None of these numbers match, they contradict each other. It’s a campaign that doesn’t build trust, misleads the public, and turns the workers into targets.

This has also caused confusion among the public. Yesterday, while we were guarding the strike sites near trash piles, the municipality tried to bring in other workers to clean areas outside their assigned zones, which, we all know, is unconstitutional. We told them clearly: ‘You can’t do this. You can’t break the strike. We won’t allow it.’ While we were there, many citizens came to ask what was really going on. When we explained the situation, some responded, ‘Then why are the media saying otherwise?’ Others said, ‘We support you.’ Some were fed up and said, ‘We’re tired of these lies.’ Yes, a few criticized us, but personally, while I was at ‘Kıbrıs Şehitleri’cStreet, I encountered far more support than hostility."

Doğan continued: "When we look at social media, the smear campaign is overwhelming. Well-known names like Yılmaz Özdil have been writing negatively about our strike for some time. But beyond that, there’s an army of accounts with three followers and thousands of followings, created three days, five days, or one month ago, using fake usernames, that are spreading hate. It’s the same playbook the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) uses, but now we are facing it from the Republican People’s Party (CHP). Just like ‘AK Trolls’ who believe every lie aired on A Haber, we are now facing a kind of worker-hating narrative where people blindly believe everything put out by Halk TV and Sözcü. So yes, it’s a tense situation for us. We are doing our best not to be turned against the people of Izmir. We don’t want the people to suffer. And that is why we believe this issue must return to the table immediately. It has to be resolved through negotiation."