Over 23,000 municipal workers in Turkey’s third-largest city have entered a second week of strike action, started on 28 May, demanding fair pay and accusing local officials of distorting their demands in the media, Mezopotamya Agency reported on Tuesday.
The workers, employed by municipal service companies the İZENERJİ, the İZELMAN and the Ege Şehir under the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, walked out on 28 May after collective bargaining talks with municipal negotiator the SODEMSEN broke down. Talks began on 19 December but collapsed when the municipality offered a 29.16 percent wage increase, which union members rejected as insufficient and unequal.
Represented by the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK)-affiliated Genel-İş union, workers across vital public services — including sanitation, transport, maintenance, and childcare — are demanding parity with employees at the İZDOĞA, another city-owned firm where the lowest net salary is 59,270 Turkish Lira [approximately 1515 USD]. In contrast, the current lowest offer to the striking workers stands at 44,455 Turkish Lira [approximately 1135 USD].
“We’re not asking for luxury — just fairness,” said Serap Yılmaz, head of the union’s İzmir No. 3 branch. “Our daily gross wage is 1,161 Turkish Lira [approximately 29 USD]. At the İZDOĞA, it’s 1,740 Turkish Lira [approximately 45 USD]. We want the wage gap to close.”
Yılmaz also criticised city officials for claiming workers demanded salaries exceeding 80,000 Turkish Lira [approximately 2045 USD]. “That’s misinformation,” she said. “We don’t ask for what they falsely announce to the public. We just want equal pay for equal work.”
Workers allege the municipality is manipulating figures by bundling additional, irregular benefits such as one-off school aid or public transport passes into overall salary calculations. “They’re including everything to inflate the numbers and discredit us,” Yılmaz added.
Veteran bus driver Osman Vurkan, employed for 16 years, said, “Our wages have been paid in fragments since January. We’re not asking for high salaries. We know the economy is bad. But we ask: why should we receive significantly less than others doing the exact same job?”
Union representatives and workers claim they’ve been subjected to smear campaigns and that city youth groups have been mobilised to undermine the strike. “This is legal, constitutional action,” said Mert Gençer, a union rep. “But they’re trying to break it by pitting people against us.”
Workers also called on İzmir’s mayor to return to the negotiating table rather than communicating through social media. “We waited six and a half hours outside the city hall last Monday,” Yılmaz said. “We are ready to talk. But talks must happen at the bargaining table — not through manipulation.”
Despite the mounting tensions, workers remain resolute in continuing their strike until their demands for fair, equal compensation are met.
