1995, august 8 - 700,000 strike to demand greater pay increases
seven hundred thousand public workers staged a one day sit-in general strike across turkey august 8 in a bid to force the government to approve pay hikes necessary to catch up with galloping inflation rates. the strike disrupted all public services, and left thousands of commuters stranded. public servants joined fellow workers in state enterprises with slow-downs, since turkey's constitution prohibits civil servants from striking.
the government is offering a 5.4 percent wage hike. workers say the offer is unacceptable amid economic forecasts of an inflation rate expected to reach 100 percent by the end of 1995. prime minister tansu ciller said the government would not consider workers' demands, insisting that public employees were paid better than workers in the private sector. union leaders reject this argument, suggesting that the lavish salaries paid government officials offered a more appropriate benchmark for comparison.
from the industrial worker, a publication of the industrial workers of the world.