Çimsataş

The MESS Group Collective Bargaining Agreement, which determines the financial and social rights of 140 thousand metal workers for the period between September 2021 and September 2023, was signed between the Turkish Metal Industrialists' Union (MESS), the organisation of metal bosses, and the unions of Türk Metal, Birleşik Metal-İş and Özçelik-İş at 02.30 am on 12 January. Workers at the Çimsataş factory in the Akdeniz district of Mersin, who are members of Birleşik Metal-İş, started wildcat strike on 12 January 2022, rejecting the 27.44% average raise for the first 6 months stipulated in the contract signed with MESS. The strike was first started on 12 January 2022 by workers from the forging department working on the night shift, but with the intervention of the union officials, the strike was broken after 2 hours by saying that a vote would be held with the participation of workers from the shifts that would come later.
In the voting held after the day shift arrived at the factory, almost all of the workers in the night shift and day shift voted to start wildcat strike, and in the voting held in the 16.00-00.00 shift, the strike started on 12 January, in the 16.00-00.00 shift, after all of the workers voted not to accept the contract as it is. The demands of the workers included, in addition to an additional raise, payment of overtime wages at 100% on weekdays and 300% on weekends, private health insurance covering the workers' families, a net 100% increase in social benefits, seniority differential, rest breaks and tea breaks, and full payment of bank promotions that had been underpaid for a long time.
While the factory management did not directly meet with the workers, a meeting was held between Akdeniz District District Governor Muhittin Pamuk, Birleşik Metal-İş Anadolu Branch President Deniz Ilgan, Çimsataş chief representative and the company management. In the statement made by the union branch chairman after the meeting, he said: ‘The MESS regional manager said that if we raise even 1 lira above this contract, Turkey will feel the earth move, we cannot accept this’. After this meeting, the workplace was closed for 4 days by the employer and the workers were forced out of the factory by the police. While the workers started resistance in front of the factory, 13 workers were sent a message by the company that their employment contracts were terminated without compensation. The action continued outside until Saturday. Workers other than those who were fired resumed work on Monday 17 January.