Page 287 - KAZOVA - ENGLISH

workers in organisations are best by a bankrupt idea of trade
unionism which involves no serious resistance to bosses who are
quite ruthless towards workers. The workers are not seen as any
kind of force. For the bosses, when they fire workers, use words
like “you were got rid of”. Moreover, workers are made to labour
for months without receiving pay, they might be kept in the work-

place for 15 days at a time, they may work 12-13 hours without
being paid overtime, their social rights are not recognised, and it
has become a rule for employers to get rid of employees without
bothering with notice or seniority compensation… It is as though
the labours of workers are not something they should be paid for
but are merely some kind of “risk” for the employer… The bosses
are doing some kind of “favour” to workers by putting them to

work and they are supposed to be “grateful” for being exploited
to the very marrow…. The workers are without organisation and
see their working conditions as “fate”…

In April 2013 the unemployment figures were published. In
April 216,000 registered workers were put out of work. The figure
for unregistered workers in our country must be at least twice that.
So in April at least 430,000 workers were put out of work. A very
large number were fired without any social rights at all. Despite

all this, how many workers resisted for the sake of the rights taken
from them? The answer for the whole country would not exceed
the number of fingers on two hands.

The trade unions have become strike breakers on behalf of
the AKP, and even the legal right to strike has fallen into disuse…

This is why the Kazova resistance is very important. It is very
important in countering the insolence of bosses who see the work-

287