After the sale of Makro Market, a chain of supermarkets operating in a dozen cities in Turkey, to Migros, a supermarket monopoly owned by Anadolu Group which is one of Turkey’s largest conglomerates, 100 workers had been fired in Turkey’s northern Black Sea city Samsun where the company had 22 branches. The workers had then gathered in front of one of the branches in Samsun to protest the decision on August 4, Saturday.
The workers gathered again in front of the same branch on August 6. While it was seen that almost all of the workers attended the gathering, Hakan Kaya, one of the workers, delivered a speech.
Kaya said: “I worked here for almost seven years. My employment was terminated by Makro Market on July 31, then the company that took over showed us to be under insurance without notifying us. İŞKUR [Turkey’s employment agency] said that we could not receive unemployment pay unless we had our contract terminated with the company that took over. We are around a hundred people here, not a few. Apart from the unemployment pay, we have unreceived damages, holidays, and annual leaves.”
Kaya noted that the masses attracted by Makro Market in Samsun was a result of the efforts of the workers, and reproached that they could not find anyone to address about their problems.
Hakan Kaya also mentioned the recently-changed regulations about the process after a sacking, stating that they could not sue the employer directly after they were fired to seek out their rights, and they had to deal with lawyers and intermediates first.
The workers were observed to have a fury against the employers, and when Hakan Kaya said that they did not “have to wait here”, but they would seek out their rights through legal means, the workers clearly said that they already knew the legal means, and that they wanted their damages and unemployment pay. They also called for the people in Samsun to protest Makro Market in their support.