TKP CC member, Alpaslan Savaş expressed to soL reporter the facts behind the regulations claimed by the government and its adherent media to be “a prohibition of termination of jobs for 3 months”.
Emphasizing that as another type of layoff is underway the bosses acquired what they wanted for years in only 3 weeks, Savaş said “There is only one solution which is to get rid of this class for good. As long as bosses rule, our health’s protection is impossible. If there is anyone assuming that socialistic and statist policies will become more prominent in capitalist states right after the crisis, they should look again at what is going on lately. Does this regulation alone not demonstrate that bosses are not up for it?”
Upon the question addressed by the reporter upon general traits of the draft, Savaş said contrary to what the name suggests, the law has nothing to do with a layoff ban but it is the legalization of compulsory unpaid leave which was in fact what capitalists have desired for a long time. It is classical AKP doing as the content is about what the bosses’ needs and it's presented as if it is in favor of the working masses, which is pretty much the same with all similar regulations in the past.
Stating that the right to force workers to take leave relieves the bosses of their burden of paying indemnity for unlawful termination of the contract, Savaş marked that the regulation is in fact securing the right of valid termination of the bosses untouched as an exception.
IT IS NOT A WAGE IT IS CHARITY
As the reporter asked whether it is a good thing that the workers are kept paid by the state in this process, Savaş replied that Turkish legislation does not contain the application of compulsory leave without the consent of the worker in the first place. He added that the footing up of the daily payment provided in the draft adds up to 1170 TRY only (which corresponds to half of the net subsistence wage in Turkey). It is not a wage, it is charity. And what is more, it will be paid from the unemployment insurance which the worker will have to apply for when discharged.
As a last remark, Savaş underlined that there will never be a worker-protecting regulation in this system, since it is not the needs and health of the people but the priorities of the capitalist class and its infinite desires that it takes into consideration. He added that there is only one solution which is nothing but to get rid of the capitalist class for good.
Recently the government and its adherent media declared that a new regulation regarding layoff ban for 3 months underway. The draft law also provides that the term could be extended by President Erdoğan to 6 months. Yet by its content in favor of capitalist priorities and against the masses, the regulation’s body is widely criticized to be problematic.
