2022 Strikes 2: Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities Strike

Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities is an industrial basin where heavy working conditions based largely on manual labour prevail, work accidents with permanent effects and fatalities are frequent, and various occupational diseases are observed. Moreover, the shipbreaking sector is one of the areas where labour exploitation created by capitalism and ecological destruction are intertwined, as once again became evident with the dismantling of the aircraft carrier ‘Nae Sao Paulo’ belonging to the Brazilian navy in 2022, which was found to be carrying tons of asbestos and exposed to radioactive contamination.

The strike that will be discussed in this report, and which began on 11th of February 2022, is noteworthy in that it is the most massive collective workers' action that has taken place since the establishment of the Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities. This strike, which continued uninterruptedly until the 22nd of February, also stood out in terms of the complete stoppage of production with the participation of approximately 1,500 workers working in 22 companies in the basin, especially in the first days, and gained an important place in the strike wave that took place in January-February 2022.

This report intends to understand the dynamics of the emergence of this largely spontaneous strike, to provide a detailed account of the strike and its consequences, and to assess the impact of trade unions and political organisations. To this end, various sources have been utilised and interviews with workers involved in the strike and those who showed solidarity have been included.

Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities

Ship dismantling activities in Turkey had started in İstanbul in the year 1925 and continued in the Golden Horn until the mid-1970s. The sector moved to Aliağa district of İzmir with the establishment of the Organised Industrial Zone for Shipbreaking in 1976. Since the end of the 1970s, Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities has been the only industrial zone in Turkey where shipbreaking activities are carried out.^[1]

Shipbreaking activities in Aliağa showed an increase since the 1980s. While the share of broken down ships in Turkey to the world total was 2% in 1986, this ratio increased to 6,1 % in 1989.^[2] Nowadays, Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities ranks fourth in the world after Alang Shipbreaking Shipyard in India, Chittagong Shipbreaking Shipyard in Bangladesh and Gadani Shipbreaking Shipyard in Pakistan.^[3] The post-1980 shift of shipbreaking activities to countries with cheap labour such as Turkey, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan coincides with the global capitalist division of labour. Especially at the end of the 1980s, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of ships dismantled in Turkey. Currently, Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities consist of 22 companies established on 28 parcels. Different sizes and types of ships are broken down in these companies.^[4]

Shipbreaking at Aliağa

The dismantling process of a scrapped ship starts with the sale of the ship as scrap to the dismantling company. After the ship is towed ashore, firstly hazardous materials such as asbestos, batteries, accumulators, as well as fuels and oils are discharged. Then, the equipment and accessories that are usable and marketable on the ship are dismantled and delivered to the buyers. After these processes, the ship is cut into slices of several tonnes by skilled workers defined as ‘ship cutters’ or ‘ship-ers’. The cut pieces are taken ashore with the help of cranes. A total of 12-13 workers, 7-8 of whom are ship cutters, work on an average ship. The large pieces taken ashore are cut into smaller pieces by field cutters. At this stage, crane operators and heavy equipment operators are also involved in addition to the cutters. An average of 20-25 workers work in the field.^[5]

Working Conditions

Shipbreaking is a hazardous line of work that relies heavily on manual labour and requires experience and mastery. For this reason, wages are relatively high, especially in jobs requiring qualifications. A worker, whose views are included in the book Race to the Bottom: The Shipbreaking Industry, states that in the 1980s, wages at Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities were very high compared to factory workers. In the following years, it is also understood that the average wages were more than twice the minimum wage, and especially the cutters working in the field and on the ship received relatively high wages^[6]

Lump Sum Work

In lump-sum work, the labourers form a team consisting of the appropriate number of people for the ship to be dismantled. The total amount of payment for the dismantling of the ship and the estimated time of completion are agreed upon with the facility owner. While the dismantling is in progress, the workers are paid their normal daily wages. The total payment determined before the dismantling starts is paid when the work is completed. If the dismantling is completed earlier than estimated, additional payments (promotion) may be given to the workers. This working method, which became widespread in the 1990s, although decreasing today, is still applied in many companies. Even though the lump sum method is preferred because it enables workers to increase their income, it leads to intensive work tempo and long hours of work, including public holidays. This increases the risks in terms of workplace health and safety. It can also be said that it harms solidarity among workers as it encourages competition^[7].

Workplace Homicides and Occupational Diseases

Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities is a region where fatal “workplace accidents” - more accurately, workplace homicides - are common. There are significant discrepancies between official data and information coming from the field. According to the data provided by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (ÇSGB) labour inspectors, based on the records kept by the workplace physician at 15 facilities, a total of 29 workers had lost their lives in 23 accidents between the years 1985 and 2003. However, in the 23 years since representatives of the Limter-İş Union started their activities in Aliağa in 1999, it has been reported that 100 workers have lost their lives in workplace homicides.^[8] According to the report of the Occupational Health and Safety Assembly dated 26th of July 2022, at least 97 workers have lost their lives in work accidents in Aliağa between 2013 and 2022 and 28% of these workplace homicides took place in the ship dismantling sector.^[9]

On the other hand, shipbreaking workers face serious health risks. They are at risk of cancer due to toxic or hazardous substances such as asbestos, welding gas and petroleum products. Furthermore, occupational diseases such as musculoskeletal disorders from working in positions that strain the body, skin diseases from working long hours in the sun, eye conditions from exposure to welding rays and hearing loss from constant exposure to loud noise are also common.^[10]

Unions in Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities before the 2022 Strike

In the book "Race to the Bottom: The Shipbreaking Industry’, it is stated that workers at the Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities attempted to organise themselves into unions in 1987, 1992-1994 and 1997-1999 periods, but these attempts did not turn into permanent organisations. One of the workers, whose views are included in the book, reports that regarding the organising attempt in 1987, the workers were mobilised, but the employer suppressed the process and the union ‘sold out’ the workers. Between 1992 and 1995, the Limter-İş Union started to register members in Aliağa, but this unionisation attempt also failed, leading to the dismissal of some workers and their inability to find work at the Shipbreaking Facilities.

In 1998, Limter- İş started a campaign against uninsured and illicit employment in Aliağa, as well as against the lump sum method. Following a meeting to launch the campaign, a wildcat strike was organised which lasted for two days. According to union documents, production came to a complete halt in five workplaces and was partially disrupted in others. During this period, 150 out of approximately 700 workers became union members and in 7 out of 19 shipbreaking workplaces, the authorisation threshold of 50% was exceeded. However, 40 workers were dismissed in the following days and the actions organised by the union failed as they did not receive sufficient support from the workers. Although Limter-İş continued to carry out various activities in the Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities until 2003, after this date the unions had no influence left in the region.^[11]

Conditions under which the 2022 Strike Wave Emerged

The last months of 2021 were a period when the effects of the economic crisis in Turkey became more and more visible. The dollar rate exceeded 9 TL as of the 11th of October 2021 and 10 TL as of the 12th of November 2021. On November the 23rd, 2021, also known as "Black Tuesday", the dollar first reached 12 TL and then 13 TL. Despite the Central Bank's interventions, the dollar exceeded 14 TL on December the 14th, 2021 and 15 TL on the 16th of December. On December the 17th, it first exceeded 16TL and then 17 TL. On the 20th of December 2021, the dollar rate rising to 18.36 TL, reached a historical record. The government tried to slow down the depreciation of the Turkish lira by introducing what is known as the "currency-protected deposit system", which requires the payment of the difference if the Turkish lira held in time deposit accounts increases by more than the interest rate against the dollar, euro or sterling at maturity. In parallel with the depreciation of the TL, the increase in the inflation rate has accelerated in proportion to the increase in the value of the TL since October 2021.^[12] Although there are comments and analyses that the announced data is below the real inflation, the Turkish Statistical Institute ("TÜİK") announced that the Consumer Price Index (TÜFE) increased by 13,58 percent in December compared to the previous month, and rose to 36.08 percent on an annual basis as of October 2021. Thus, annual inflation rose to the highest level since September 2002.^[13]

Faced with the rapid decline in the real wages of workers in the face of high inflation, the government increased the minimum wage by 35 per cent from 2,825.90-TL net in 2021 to 4,253.40-TL, effective from 1 January 2022. While this would be the highest rate of increase in the minimum wage under the AKP government, with the increase to be made in July 2022, the total increase of 49 per cent in the minimum wage reached the rates of increase during the Gulf Crisis and the 1994 crisis periods.^[14] Even though it could be said that this rate of increase protected the purchasing power of workers earning minimum wage in the face of high inflation to some extent, the rate of increase was not reflected on those earning above the minimum wage. On the other hand, it reinforced the expectation of all workers that their wages, which were eroding due to high inflation, would be increased.

The Reasons for the Strike

The wildcat strike that took place at the Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities between the 11th of February and the 22nd of February 2022 had until then been an unprecedented collective workers' action in this basin. However, this strike was also part of the autonomous workers' struggles that emerged in January and February 2022 under the impact of the economic crisis mentioned above. These strikes, which took place independently of each other, constitute a unity in the sense that they are indicators of a new period in the history of class struggles in Turkey. The first characteristic of this period, which we can still see continuing today, is that workers do not act within the limits set by the law. The second is that in the vast majority of strikes, workers are not fighting with the official unions, but through autonomous workers' associations they have formed in the workplaces.

This strike that took place in the Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities, where there is no influence of unions or any formal organisation, also has a non-union and spontaneous character. In this basin, where there is no tradition of struggle due to the relatively high wages despite the heavy and dangerous working conditions and the failure of the unions' organising efforts, it can be said that the decrease in real wages to a level approaching the wages in other industries in the region is the main factor in the emergence of such a strike.

A worker whom we contacted at Dörtel Shipbreaking ("Worker A"), who did not want to give his name, says that there has never been such a crowded demonstration in shipbreaking and attributes this to the fact that they do not get paid for their labour despite the problems they face in terms of social rights, worker health and safety. Another worker ("Worker B") at Aliağa Ship Recycling (formerly Kalkavan), who did not want to give his name, explains this situation in the following words:

“I have never experienced such a strike before. Forget about me, there is no such thing in the history of shipbreaking. Those in shipbreaking do not have such a consciousness. People in ship dismantling are not people who participate in a lot of things. They are people who are very far away from strikes, unions, etc. Say 'union', maybe they will even abandon what they defend. What triggered this strike was the fall in wages, the economic crisis, and because we work in shipbreaking, we have more danger and risk than other sectors, we work under harsher conditions. And the salary we received was better than the market. That salary has recently almost reached the point of balancing with the market. So we said, 'Then why are we working in shipbreaking?”

Strike Before The Strike

Worker B reports that before the big strike on the 11th of February, there was a short strike at Kalkavan, which resulted in a wage increase in line with the workers' demands:

“We had got our raise by striking within ourselves a week or 10 days before the strike that took place everywhere. The shippers started this process. The shippers engaged in a struggle. They asked for 500 lira wages. This was not given. There is our director Zeynel Maden. At last he said, 'I can't give you a wage of 500 liras, go down and work on the field', and offered around 400 liras. They were going to go down, they were preparing their teams and so on. This time he says to the shippers, 'Don't go down, take your tools, your exit is being made'. The shipers I talk about are 6-7 people. They work on the ship, we work in the field. They cut the ship on the sea. We cut on land. The ship's foreman is a little more experienced than the field. Their work is a little more dangerous. Their wages are 50-60 liras more on a daily basis. They said, 'Your exit is being made, collect your tools'. The tools we use are our own. Those who took their tools went towards the exit, towards the company office. We realised that the men from the ship were coming. Then there was a gathering on the field. 'Why are these men quitting? What's wrong with them? Why did this happen? It is wrong to do this to these men'. Then a few people said, 'Let's go to support them. If these guys go, we should go too,'. And the majority said, 'OK, let's go'. Those who didn't want to go had to follow us. There are about 15-20 people in total on the field. If you count the apprentices, there are 50-60 people in total. The apprentices joined in, saying that if our foremen don't work, we won't work either. When this happened, they said, 'Come and sit down, let's talk again'. Then, we went to the company's social facility. There was a small friction. One of the company's employees spoke ill of us, the foremen on the ship walked towards him, we intervened and took the man out. Then we started to negotiate the daily wage for the whole ship. Not 300 but 400, not 400 but 450. Field foreman, ship foreman, apprentices, everyone was there. There was a brother who was a shipper. The person at the forefront of this issue. He said, '500 for ships, 450 for the field, 350 for apprentices. If it's like this, we'll work,' he said. 'Do we accept, friends?' he asked. Everyone said, 'Of course we do'. There was nothing planned. The sailors were saying 500 beforehand, but it wasn't planned for the others. 'If you agree, we'll work like this,' he said to Mr Zeynel. Mr Zeynel talked to the boss and the boss agreed.”

First Day of The Strike

Following the announcement of the wage increase at Kalkavan, workers at other companies began to demand the same increases. On the 11th of February, workers in at least five companies, including Temurtaş family-owned Işıksan, Anatolian Shipbreaking (AGS) and Blade, stopped production and went on a wildcat strike.^[15] Upon this, as a result of pressure from other company bosses, the Aliağa Ship boss withdrew the raise he had given to the workers.

Worker B describes what happened at that time as follows:

“There is the boss of Işıksan, Mr Mehmet [Mehmet Temurtaş], also from Niğde. He is a former partner of our boss, and also a relative. The owner of our company is Cevdet Temurtaş. Mehmet has 3-4 construction sites on his hands. He is kind of a monopoly in shipbreaking. Ours has two shipyards. The owner of Işıksan is in a better situation than our boss and he sells ships to our boss. The owner of Işıksan calls our boss. 'You did this and that. You gave a raise. My men revolted. You did wrong. You'll withdraw the raise you gave,' he says. Ours says okay. Then they have a meeting in the cafeteria. AGS has a subcontractor. A guy called Erdoğan Çam. He comes at the top of the list of the men who exploit the workers the most. The workers gather in the cafeteria. He makes a video call to our boss. Of course these are planned. Erdoğan Çam says to our boss, 'Brother, did you give this much wages to your workers?' He says, 'I didn't give that much wages.' So he is lying. He withdraws the raise he gave there and declares this to the workers at the construction site. We are still unaware of the events. As a result, our raise is withdrawn and we hear about it later. I mean, about a week after they promised us a raise, they took it back.”

“Then, when the situation comes to our side, the boiling starts. After us, it's Işıksan's men who try to get a raise. AGS, Kursan Ship, here and there. The word gets out. That day was Friday. On Saturday, Sunday, there's no work. Work would start on Monday. 'This is our system. Those who want to work work. If you don't want to work, the door is there.'. And of course we got angry. What should we do, this and that. That day the AGS workers don't work. Erdoğan Çam doesn't allow the food to be cooked because they don't work. He doesn't give them tea either. And that was just the icing on the cake. This happens at AGS. Upon this, they closed our construction site that day. 'No work on Saturday, Sunday, come back on Monday.' they said.”

Second Day: The Strike Spreads to the Whole Shipyard

On Saturday morning, 12th of February, workers got off the shuttle buses before the start of work, gathered in front of the Ship Recycling Industrialists' Association^[16] building at the entrance of the Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities and marched through the facility. With this march, the strike spread to the entire shipyard since the morning hours.^[17]

Worker B, who works at Kalkavan, describes how the process developed in the following:

"We started it. We started to stand there. When we stopped, workers from AGS, Işıksan and all of Mr. Mehmet's companies also got off the shuttle buses. Even the services of unrelated construction sites have stopped. Almost 95%, 97% of the shipbreaking area stopped working."

Worker A confirms this statement in the following words:

“On our way to work in the morning, we saw Kalkavan's men all at the entrance of Shipbreaking, in front of the association, coming down from the shuttle bus. When we saw them, we came down too. There are 22 companies. Each workplace has its own shuttle. All the incoming shuttles stopped, the workers got off. When everyone got off, a majority was formed. Everyone got off except a few people. Those who didn't attend also didn't work. Work at the construction site came to a complete halt.”

Selami Pektaş, who has been working at Aliağa Shipbreaking since 1986, describes that day as follows:

“Kalkavan had given a raise, and two days later he withdrew it. When they heard that there was going to be a strike that day, they had the lunch thrown in the trash and didn't give it to the workers. So we started the next day. The next day, all 22 companies participated. There was a gathering area on the side of the road. We started to pile up there.”

Gökhan Çoban, who was working at BMS Ship at the time, explains how the strike spread as follows:

“It started first at Kalkavan, then spread to AGS. On the first day they had stopped work, but they had not left their workplaces. Then the news came that everyone was halting the work. The day before, we received a message from our acquaintances. That there would be a gathering in front of the association. We heard this, we informed all our friends in the evening, 'We are gathering in front of the association tomorrow', and everyone informed their acquaintances.

The next day we gathered in front of the association, everyone came. All the companies elected their representatives. I was a representative at the same time. We took a decision there and marched from the beginning to the end of shipbreaking. We tried to make our voices heard, and there was quite a mass. When we started the march, most of the workers were there, but there were also participations when we passed in front of the companies. So participation increased to 95%.”

Dynamics of the Basin and the Role of Organised Circles in the Process

ed a relationship with the strike that started at the Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities and how they had an impact on its aftermath:

“There was a page called Shipbreaking Worker on social media. We saw a post saying that problems with wages are growing in shipbreaking. When we heard about this incident, we said let's go to the front of the shipbreaking on Saturday morning, let's see what will happen there. If there are 22 companies, 1 or 2 of them will surely react, let's at least go there, and if we can at least connect with the workers here, we thought that we can understand what the issue is. We got up at 6 that morning and went there with our Aegean Workers' Association banner. We went there not knowing what was going to happen. 6 a.m. in the dark, there was nothing. We were there before the buses arrived. One by one, the buses started to arrive. The incoming shuttle buses came in, no one stopped. Then a shuttle suddenly arrived and stopped. This time they started to get off. Then another shuttle started to get off. Of course, we unfurled a banner at that time. Incoming buses got off at our banner. Then people started arguing. We were looking from a distance, trying to understand what was going on. We went inside. The workers were arguing fiercely. Some of them say, "Should we scan the cards and wait at the companies?", some say, "Is what we are doing here illegal?". Some of them say 'No, let's not scan cards, let's wait here, whatever happens, let it happen here'. An environment where heads are disorganised and each company speaks on a different string. We try to intervene at that time. ''Come on, friends, our problems are common. If there is a problem, let's gather somewhere together, let's talk together and solve it together. If you are going to go in, go in together, if you are going to stay here, stay together. But whatever you do, do it collectively, you will make your current demands stronger'. Of course, while we were making these speeches, a worker came and grabbed our arm. 'Hey friend, you talk well. Take this megaphone, get up on the wall and speak before this place disperses', he said. It was completely spontaneous like that. We don't know the inside, we are not very familiar with the conditions in the production areas. We took the megaphone and tried to explain our concerns to our friends. 'Whatever problems you are having here, come so that we can stand united, let's elect our representatives, let's determine our demands, let's know what we want. Then the workers suddenly gathered. Actually, everyone is waiting for someone to speak so that we can do something. The issue has reached a tipping point. These workers have exploded, they are going to do something, but the biggest problem is that they don't know what to do. Our natural intervention brought everyone together.

Then a lawyer from the ÇHD [Contemporary Lawyers' Association] came, called Ali. We saw him while these discussions were going on. Actually, as a lawyer, his speech there was like a spring of life. He reassured the workers. We didn't know him, he came there and said he was from the ÇHD. So we said, there's a lawyer friend here, he's going to say a few things about whether or not to scan cards or whether it's a crime or not. The lawyer spoke really well. He emphasised the actual aspect of the issue. 'What determines the law is your unity here. If you can ensure this, the issue will move forward in a stronger way." When he said this, the workers gained more self-confidence. At this time, the workers said to us, 'Half of us have come down and dispersed to the companies. Let's organise a march from here, let's gather all the workers from the companies and come'. We formed a cortege. We already had the banner of the Aegean Workers' Association. The workers said let's take this banner and everyone should follow it. We didn't interfere. The workers took the banner in front of them and started to march.”

Lawyer Ali Ekiz, a member of the Contemporary Lawyers Association (ÇHD), explains how he heard about the process and what happened:

“The day before, there is trouble at a workplace, and in the evening the workers have a meeting. Friends who are clients of the ÇHD contacted the ÇHD around 9-10 p.m. and requested lawyer support, but no clear information was given about whether there would be a strike or not. Then we contacted our friends, they said that there was nothing clear about whether there would be a strike or not, that they would also be at work, but that there might be something about the workplaces where the problems started. The next day we were waiting in Aliağa. When our friends informed us that the strike had started and that the workers had not entered the workplace, I reached there in 5-10 minutes. We saw that the majority of workers from all companies were there. There we got in touch with the workers. We were asked about certain, basic issues. Legal information was given about whether this strike was legal or not, what the demands could be, etc., on the grounds of legitimacy, of course. We told them that this was a wildcat strike. The most frequently asked question was 'If we don't come to work for three days, will we be fired? We explained that this would depend on the resistance, that although we could not guarantee this, if the resistance and the strike were carried out in a solid way, there would be no problems, and that the workers had the fundamental will. I explained that the law could be changed and directed by the workers. Then representatives were appointed, one from each company. While talking among the workers there, it was said that there should be a lawyer among the representatives. So I became one of those representatives.”

Selami Pektaş says the following about the contribution of people coming from outside to the process:

“There were outsiders, they were very supportive. Thanks to them, it could continue this long. Otherwise they would have it finished on the second or third day. They tore the workers apart. On the day of the march, the buses were always emptied. There were more conscious people from outside who came to support us. They generally gave us direction. A friend there set up a WhatsApp group. They made everyone a member. Communication was organised there.”

Demands of The Workers

After the march at the Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities, shared demands were set out by the gathered workers. The main reason for the outbreak of the strike was to increase the low wages, but then a 20-item list of demands regarding insurance premiums, working conditions and social rights was created.

Gökhan Çoban says the following about the demands that emerged:

"The demands were purely wage-based. I have been here for years. There has not been a reaction against work safety rules, working conditions, work equipment, deaths, accidents for years. All of these have an effect, they accumulated, but they were channelled through wages. Our primary demand was to increase wages. Working conditions, compliance with occupational safety rules and raising insurance premiums were also our priority demands. Because the insurance premiums were paid at minimum wage. However, we were earning above the minimum wage."

The demands put forward by the workers were as follows:

1- Salary increase (Daily wage demands: Ship 500 TL, Field 450 TL, Apprentice 350 TL, Slinger 400 TL, Workshop workers 450 TL, Ship operator 500 TL, Field operator 450 TL, Driver 450 TL)

2- Depositing the salaries to the bank over the wage received

3-Hourly wages for 4 hours of working hours to be 1 wage per day

4-No deduction of wages in case of not working in adverse weather conditions

5-Distribution of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) on time and in full

6-Maintenance of oxygen lamps and elimination of deficiencies

7-Non-discontinuation of insurance

8- Improvement of social facilities

9- Excuse leaves should not be deducted from the daily wage

10- Public holidays to be given as extra overtime

11-Half day work on Saturdays. Extra overtime in case of full-time work.

12-Granting annual leave

13- Taking labour representatives under protocol

14-The current certificate to be valid at all construction sites

15- Coverage of the health report fee by the employer at the time of employment

16- Wage increases every 6 months

17- Recognition of ship dismantling as a heavy industry^[18]

Decision Making Processes

Although there was no decision-making mechanism at the beginning of the action, which started largely spontaneously, it is understood that the workers tried to act by creating a collective decision-making mechanism as much as possible. While the demands were determined jointly by all of the workers, a mechanism was tried to be established in which decisions were taken by a committee consisting of representatives from each construction site and the representatives held meetings with the workers in their own company.

Selami Pektaş explains that there were no representatives before the protests started, but afterwards, one main and one substitute representative was elected from each construction site and decisions were taken together with these representatives. Ali Ekiz, being a lawyer, states that he was included in the board of representatives upon the request of the workers.

As for Gökhan Çoban, he explains the decision-making mechanism and the factors affecting it as follows:

“The first days were good. We elected a representative. There was no election when I was elected as a representative, my friends just said 'You be the representative', and I said okay. Afterwards, during the decision-making phase, as representatives, each of us met with workers from our own company and discussed the decisions, and as representatives, we turned them into resolutions. The following things happened. There are 50 people in the company where I work, and there are 200 people where the other one works. Of course this affects the decision-making mechanism, and it did. Because unfortunately, those close to the left were in the minority among the representatives. Because in my company, the workers were saying, we have 50 people, but there are 200 people in their company. What will we do if they withdraw? They had similar discussions. But we have established a system where there is a representative from each company. We came together at various periods and talked about how we would carry out the process, we made decisions about it. We discussed and decided on everything from press releases, marches to the writing of slogans.”

Unions Disrupt Unity among Workers

The strike at the Aliağa Shipbreaking Facilities started on the workers' own initiative and was organised without any union support. However, after the actions started, unions tried to get involved in the process with the intention of recruiting members, which led to discussions and reactions among the workers. The trade unions clearly played a disruptive role in the mobilisation process. These approaches led to divisions among the workers, which contributed to the disintegration of the strike.

Selami Pektaş states the following about the attitude of the unions:

“These strikes started spontaneously, there was no union. But the day after the strikes started, a yellow union came in the evening. They had organized all the workers at Kalkavan through the internet. The people at Kalkavan had started on their own, the union came later. But then they resigned too. There is no union at the moment.”

Gökhan Çoban explains the workers' reaction to the unions' later attempts to get involved in the process and the reasons for this as follows:

“While the resistance was going on, Liman-İş came to the site and tried to recruit members. When they tried to recruit members, they received a reaction from the workers. At that time, some bosses were openly or secretly negotiating with the workers. In that process, returns started. This is like a ring, the entry of Liman-İş triggered these returns. But the worst situation is as follows. We have been here for years, in shipbreaking. We are actually in front of everyone's eyes. We die, we burn, we are injured, we are crippled. We die from asbestos, we die from lung cancer, but unfortunately the unions didn't see us until the strike. When they came to the strike, of course they received reactions from the workers. Most of the workers asked, 'Where have you been all this time?' There was no reaction to those who came to support us, but there was a reaction to those who handed out membership forms or tried to make speeches by saying they came from this union.”

Yücel Memiş has the following to say on this subject:

“Both Liman-İş and Limter-İş came here, but the approach of both was to make direct members instead of understanding the current situation. I mean there is a protest here. They acted with the mentality that this place is going to fall apart anyway, and the more people we make members, the more we can get a roof over our heads. Their membership efforts there caused an incredible backlash. Some workers said, 'I have been here for 40 years, so many people have died, no one has come, and today, because I raised my voice, my gentlemen are trying to make me a member'. Or workers in some companies said, 'We didn't come here for the union, brother. We came for support, where did the union come from?' They said that Liman-İş came there and said, 'Friends, become a member, the boss cannot fire you anyway. Because he has to give union compensation'. The workers have actually stopped production, they have passed the law, we are in a completely different situation, and you come there and approach it from a materialistic point of view. And this confuses things there. I mean, the intervention of the unions came from a very reactionary place. Even when Limter-Is came and said, “Help us, let us make members here, Liman-Is makes more members than us,” we said, “What this place needs right now is not unionization or membership. What this place needs right now is to turn this 40 years of anger into an organized identity and continue it. If we can achieve this, there can be unionization and association here.“ But they didn't go for it.”

The intervention of the unions not only caused anger among the workers, but also broke the unity among the workers, resulting in the exclusion of workers from companies with large numbers of employees, such as Kalkavan and Real. Yücel Memiş has the following to say about this:

“Liman-İş was only organized in Kalkavan. It was EMEP itself that brought Liman-İş there. Evrensel Newspaper brought it there. Two years ago, Evrensel had published a news article about Liman-İş as “The yellow union of the yellow union” because it had signed a 4-year contract at Nemport. We had difficulty to understand what had changed in these two years that they brought Liman-İş there. Liman-İş also intervened there and seduced Kalkavan. Kalkavan even convinced the workers at night. One by one they told the other workers, 'We have become a member, you become a member too'. And the workers said, 'What's going on? What membership? Where did the union come from? What are we going to do tomorrow? How are we going to win the demands? Where did this union come from when we could be discussing these things? Look, this place will fall apart, don't do this. That's not our job right now,' they said, but Kalkavan didn't listen. When he acted on his own, Real broke up in a hurry. The Real workers came the next day and withdrew en masse. They left the process completely. Real was actually a strong company, but after this union incident, they withdrew on the 3rd or 4th day of the strike.”

Pressure from Bosses and Dissolution

The role of the unions and the workers' lack of experience and unity in the struggle were the main reasons for the dissolution of the strike over time, but the bosses took advantage of this situation and used both economic and psychological pressure methods to break the strike. From the third day of the strike they targeted workers individually, using their debts and family responsibilities, and intimidated them with legal threats through the police and judicial process. They also sought to divide the strike by targeting the more combative representatives and trying to eliminate the workers who were the natural vanguard. As a result, the strike has weakened day by day due to the lack of unity of the workers and the systematic pressure of the bosses.

Selami Pektaş describes how these pressures were applied and their consequences as follows:

“On the third day, there was a person like a foreman in our company, from Tokat. He dispersed people. He tried to convince people with statements like 'If this job didn't exist, you would die of hunger'. They know that some of them have bank debts, some owe money to the grocer. After all, the salary will be received at the beginning of the month. They went on house visits one-on-one. From the third or fourth day onwards, they started to dissolve. 3 people, 5 people, and by the last day there were only about 100-150 people left. On the first day, almost all of the 1300 workers had joined. It continued like this for three days. On the fourth day the breakdowns started."

Gökhan Çoban also describes the pressure of the bosses as follows:

“Of course, the bosses didn't sit idle either. They made house visits at night. They visited the houses through their managers to get the workers to back down. They also used their family relations to exert pressure.”

He also states that workers were unable to take the necessary precautions while the bosses were making their own moves.

Lawyer Ali Ekiz summarizes the process of repression and the events that contributed to the breakdown of the strike as follows:

“The strike started on Saturday, by the evening everyone had gone home. The second day, Sunday, was normally holiday. It was a quiet, calm day. But on Sunday evening, all the employers' representatives, foremen and managers visited the workers' representatives and workers and tried to dissuade them from the strike. Because we heard this, we went to the workers the same night, together with some of our fellow workers we chose. We lobbied against this. On Sunday evening and Monday morning we carried out activities in this direction.

The second important turning point was Monday evening. We learned that a lawsuit had been filed for the annulment of the strike and we heard that a survey was scheduled for Wednesday. Tuesday was spent in activities against this. We filed complaints with the Employment Agency, met with workers, collected power of attorney, prepared for the next day, and we invited the bar association.

On Wednesday, the survey took place in the morning, and in the evening we learned that the court had rejected the injunction. At that point, employers started to give up hope. 2-3 hours after the survey, we received a message from the employers: They asked for a meeting in the evening. But this was a complete intimidation move. The employers wanted five worker representatives for the meeting, but the police put pressure to exclude especially the pioneering and struggling workers by saying, 'We don't want these people'. They clearly said 'We don't want these names'.

Then the police chief and the head of the association sat down with the workers' representatives and directly threatened them. We could not talk about a compromise. They showed the workers documents saying, 'Workers will come from India, here is the list, here are the documents'. This was the breaking point. Some workers backed down at that moment. One of the representatives who participated in that meeting took his team and went back to work the next day. Another representative was fired at night and everyone in his team went back to work.”

An Effort to Resurrect the Fading Strike: Rally in Aliaga Square

After the strike began to fade, a rally was organized in Aliağa Democracy Square on Sunday, February 20, in order to increase the motivation of the workers, to carry the struggle to a broader platform and to revitalize the strike by publicizing their demands. Approximately 3000 people attended the rally; however, the majority of the participants were not striking workers, but outside supporters. This did not have the expected effect and after the rally, a significant number of the striking workers decided to return to work.

Yücel Memiş describes the rally process as follows:

“We had previously proposed to hold a rally in Aliağa. We pushed for it again in the following days, thinking that if it was a bit more crowded here, the workers would get excited again and get back to their feet. They accepted. Then we started to call for a press statement and for the first time in the history of Aliağa we had such a crowded press statement. 3000 people attended the press statement in that square. It created a positive atmosphere, but underneath there was an undercurrent of family ties.”

Lawyer Ali Ekiz describes the situation before the rally, the participation and its effects as follows:

“The strike continued on Thursday and Friday. On Friday, it was decided to hold a rally at Aliağa Square on Sunday. There we clearly realized that the majority of the people who came were not fellow workers. Many fellow workers sent us news in the evening of that day saying 'OK, the rally is over, we will go back to work'. As of Monday and Tuesday, we decided to end the strike with the last remaining friends.”

End of Strike

Although the strike started with strong participation and determination, it ended on Tuesday, February 22nd as a result of intense pressure from the bosses and the police, the unions' attitude that harmed the unity among the workers, economic concerns and the erosion of unity among the workers over time. The 100-150 workers who continued the strike until the last day realized that it was no longer possible to continue and decided to end the struggle.

Yücel Memiş considers the breaking point of the process as the withdrawal of AGS company workers from the strike:

“AGS was decisive. Because it is a big company. Afterwards, they go and take a vote with the workers. All the workers decided to continue the strike. But the representative said I can't bear the burden and sin of so many people and withdrew. When he withdrew, the AGS workers got confused. Then we learned that the AGS representative met with EMEP members, and the EMEP members told the AGS representative, “Don't prolong this issue any longer. It will lead to worse conditions, many people will be unemployed, many people will lose their bread”. Of course, this is what we heard later. And the AGS representative, who didn't have much intention anyway, withdraws AGS. When AGS left, the rest of the companies started to leave. First Real left. Then Kalkavan unionized and started to act separately. Then AGS withdrew after the press statement. On the last day, there was no ground to reach a solution. Then the decision was taken to end the action.”

Selami Pektaş describes the last day of the strike as follows:

“On the last day, as a group of 100-150 people, we realized that we couldn't continue anymore. We had a meeting that evening, we decided to end it. That's where we told each other that they wouldn't take us to shipbreaking anymore. And they didn't. In the next month, they fired all the leading cadres.”

Conclusion: Partial Gains and Layoffs

The strike launched by the shipbreaking workers did not lead to the full achievement of the targeted demands, but it did lead to significant changes in working conditions and the wage system. However, the bosses, as usual, dismissed and blacklisted workers who stepped forward, after the strike and increased the pressure on workers.

According to the workers we interviewed, the partial gains achieved as a result of the strike were as follows:

• Even though the amount of wages demanded by the workers could not be reached, an agreement was made for a wage of 370 TL and a premium of 1500 TL. This resulted in a total daily earnings of 420-430 TL. Even though this was below the demands, it was an improvement compared to the pre-strike period.
• As a result of the public outcry over the strike, labor inspectors began to carry out inspections. As a result of this, the practice of paying workers' wages by hand ended and all salaries began to be deposited in the bank. Thus, SSI premiums were paid based on actual wages and workers' social security rights were improved to some extent.
• While previously workers were not provided with the necessary equipment, after the strike, companies started to provide workers with protective clothing.
• Although there was no direct reduction in working hours, according to workers, production pressure was partially reduced and the pace of work eased.

However, along with the gains, repression also increased. Immediately after the strike, the bosses punished the pioneering workers by firing them and tried to prevent the organized struggle by putting the other workers under pressure. This process once again showed that official unions do not play a positive role in workers' struggle. The unions weakened the unity of the workers by limiting the struggle to legal limits, to membership and collective bargaining processes. Unionists did not hesitate to break the solidarity between workers in order to gain authorization.

The Aliağa Shipbreaking Strike is an important experience that shows that it is decisive for workers to maintain their unity. This struggle holds lessons about the role of political subjects in the class movement. As an important part of the 2022 strike wave and the first major strike in the shipbreaking sector since the 1980s, this resistance has taken its place in the history of the Turkey working class as an experience that can guide stronger and more organized struggles in the future.