TGS Union Organizer İlyas Coşkun: “We need to internalize the fact that the struggle for the economic and social rights of journalists and the struggle for editorial independence should go together”

 

MELTEM AKYOL

 

The strike that began in the Turkey offices of Sputnik has been ongoing for three months as of 14 November 2023. When the strike began, it was high summer and now, with winter rolling in, journalists are still out in the street. But what for? Let’s take a look at it from the beginning.

 

Journalists employed at Sputnik Turkey began to join the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS) in 2022. In January 2023, they secured the required majority at Sputnik and TGS applied to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security for authorization. The Ministry informed the TGS of its authorization on 16 January 2023. In February 2023, the TGS and Sputnik, as the employer, began negotiations. Things were going well, until it came to the matter of pay.

 

To provide some brief information: Sputnik is an organization affiliated with the Russian state, Rossiya Segodnya International News Agency (MİA Rossiya Segodnya). It broadcasts in more than 30 languages across 34 countries. It has reporters and editors throughout the world. In addition to Turkey, it has offices in many significant locations in the world, including the United States (Washington), China (Beijing), France (Paris), Germany (Berlin), Egypt (Cairo) and the UK (London). Before the strike, Sputnik Turkey employed 56 people, with 40 in its Istanbul office and 16 in its Ankara office.

 

As the negotiations with the TGS came to a dead end in July, the ministry assigned a mediator. Sputnik, however, once again refused to accept any offer. Consequently, the union called for a strike at both the Ankara and Istanbul offices of Sputnik on 24 July 2023. Just before the strike commenced on 17 August 2023, Sputnik fired a total of 24 unionized journalists -- four from its Ankara office and 20 from its Istanbul office. The reason it gave was “downsizing” and “improving efficiency.” It would appear that Sputnik was facing “economic difficulties.” So it was rather telling that during just before it started facing “economic difficulties” and firing journalists because of it, Sputnik had moved to Süzer Plaza in Istanbul, where it is said it pays TL 600,000 in rent per month. It should be noted that the strike continues right outside that office tower.

 

Persuasion rooms, lay-offs, pay at the hunger line

 

So, what took place in the process leading from union work to the lay-offs? We posed this question to TGS Union Organizer İlyas Coşkun:

 

“Despite the TGS’s goodwill and solution-focused proposals, the employer made no offers, especially when it came to pay. During the statement it made when it called for a strike, the trade union called the employer to come back to the table, to negotiate. Sputnik and its Turkish members have violated the constitution and laws of the Republic of Turkey to force our members to resign. Persuasion rooms were set up at workplaces, employees were asked whether they were union members and were pressured to resign. While all this happened, the employer moved its offices in Istanbul from Şirinevler to Süzer Plaza in Şişli, to a location where they pay hundreds of thousands of liras in monthly rent. Despite this, when they declared that they would carry out a mass lay-off of 20 employees in September to the trade union and the ministry, they used the pretext of ‘economic reasons.’ With us continuing to stand up for our rights, the employer carried out the lay-off it had announced for September on 7 August 2023 and fired 24 staffers. One of the employees who was fired was the trade union representative at the workplace.”

 

Coşkun underlined that by law, the work contract of the trade union representative cannot be annulled on “economic” reasons and continued: “Even this aspect to the lay-off shows that the real reason has to do with unionization and not economic reasons. Upon this attempt at intimidation by the employer, the TGS began its strike on 17 August 2023. The employer has made moves to break the strike. They illegally hired new workers while the strike continued and made some members to leave the union through the Turkish managers. Some producers who had objected to the lay-offs nevertheless eventually went back to work. Some employees continued to work, as though there were no strike and the constitution of the Republic of Turkey were not being violated. Since the beginning of the strike, Sputnik has produced nothing that can be called news. Its readership and audience should know that unless this strike succeeds, there will no semblance of professional ethics or solidarity at this organization.”

 

One of the demands of the striking journalists is fair pay. It is said that the average monthly pay after tax is around TL 15,000 at Sputnik. According to data from the Confederation of Labor Unions of Turkey (TÜRK-İŞ) the hunger line for a family of four in August, when the strike at Sputnik began, was TL 12,000 a month. So, it would not be wrong to say that Sputnik employees live on the hunger line. One of the journalists laid-off for the reasons stated above is Günce Nur İnce. İnce, who worked as an editor and presenter at Sputnik, said: “I worked for very low pay. I didn’t want it to go on this way. While we reported on the economic crisis every day, we were crushed by inflation.”

 

Journalists also demand private healthcare coverage and aid for utility bills for those working from home. İnce said: “Their offices are at Süzer Plaza, which is perhaps the most central, most expensive location not just in Istanbul, but in all of Turkey. Even so, Sputnik did not even make a counter-offer to our very minimal demands. Our right to union were completely ignored,” adding: “The day after we posted the strike decision at our Istanbul and Ankara offices, Sputnik fired 24 journalists. So, we are demonstrating here both for reinstatement and for the strike.”

 

Ministry still investigating

 

Being a member of a trade union is a constitutional right. So is going on strike. Furthermore, the law states, “No one may be removed from employment for being a union member.” While this clear provision is being violated, institutions such as the Ministry of Labor and Social Security and the Directorate of Communications are still “investigating” the matter.

 

Çoşkun recounts the following about this issue: “We filed a complaint against strike breakers. The legal process on unlawful lay-offs is also underway. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security sent an inspector the workplace to identify breaches on site. It will soon make its report on the matter available to the parties. The situation is such that it cannot be ignored by anyone familiar with the legislation concerning labor organizations. Recently, the Minister Vedat Işıkhan himself answered questions on the strike at Sputnik at the Parliamentary Planning and Budget Commission, saying, “the investigation into labor organization violations is underway.” It is very clear that a violation is the case. The problem is that the bureaucracy is taking things slowly. What is taking place at the Sputnik Turkey offices is not just our issue. The Constitution is being violated. We will see whether the state and competent authorities of the Republic of Turkey will remain silent. We have also tried to make inroads with the Directorate of Communications but have not received any direct or indirect indication that the matter has been taken up.”

 

“I will appear in court for the first time, for a reinstatement case”

 

Nejdet Eksilmez, a former Sputnik employee and the union representative, said he is fighting for his constitutional rights. “Soon, I will appear in court for the first time in my life and it will be for a reinstatement to employment case," he said. "I was fired from my job, when I thought I was protected by a shield extended by the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, while working as the union representative and under union safeguards.”

 

Eksilmez said that when they decided to take strike action, their demands were not just economic: “Our pay was not enough, but our demands were not limited to pay. Yet, it is a fact that journalists cannot make ends meet. Journalists should be free, they should not be arrested, they should not be tortured and in addition journalists should have decent pay. These are not separate issues, they are parts of the same struggle. Thousands of journalists who work in preparing the news in the background do not enjoy the same conditions as the few who appear on the screen. In fact, many are paid less than the going average in Turkey. How can journalists report on the economy when they have to worry about their own financial circumstances the moment they wake up? All press workers need to enjoy better economic conditions from now on, whether they work for a newspaper, a radio, a television or a printing company.”

 

Eksilmez said: “Previous achievements through organized labor struggle in Turkey encouraged us to become unionized.” Most recently, employees at the BBC’s Istanbul office went on strike in January 2022, at a time in which the cold bit to the bone. The 15-day long strike was a success. Later, journalists working in the Turkey office of Agence France-Presse (AFP) went on strike on World Press Freedom Day, 3 May 2023. The strike ended on the ninth day, with the workers achieving gains.

 

“I see our struggle at Sputnik as part of the recently rising tide of labor organization in Turkey,” Eksilmez said, adding: “The recent unionization initiatives in the media sector and the success they achieved at a time of severe economic hardship gave us hope, to be honest. We see this strike as a strike for all of our colleagues. When I speak I always say, ‘We resisted for 30 days on our own behalf and the rest on your behalf.’ The more you own what we do, the more we will resist. At a time in which resistance is less frequent throughout Turkey, it is meaningful and significant that we have become a symbol of resistance. People need to own this. Any gains we make here will be significant, because otherwise bosses will be encouraged by example, they will say, ‘They fired those people over there with no consequences.’”

 

The unionization package: Forced resignations, mobbing, titles, promotions

 

According to official figures, there are 27,000 employees practicing journalism in the media sector. According to Çoşkun, the figure rises to 40,000 with the inclusion of those who are informally employed.

 

“The two main problems of the sector are lack of unionization and high unemployment. This leads to low pay, long working hours, lack of social rights and job security. To escape this vicious circle, journalists resort to one of two options: they either move towards collective struggle and labor organization or adopt an individualistic, selfish attitude.” Çoşkun said that the experience was the same in any sector and said that when they become union members for the first time, employees are given the “package treatment”: “First come the one-on-one negotiations to force a resignation from the union. At Sputnik, the most preferred method was getting members into ‘persuasion rooms.’ This was what the employer and managers often chose to do during the unionization process. Some show employees the carrot, giving them titles, bonuses or raises; against others of strong character, they employ suppression through mobbing and the threat of firing, or even actually firing them.

 

“This is an action package we may encounter in all sectors, in all attempts at unionization. The reason for it is clear; in a non-unionized workplace, the employer makes all the rules. The employer gets to decide how material value created is distributed or not distributed. Labor organization is a significant step towards the relatively fairer distribution of the material value created at the workplace, the provision of workplace health and security measures that are seen as unnecessary costs and towards job security. Employers fear such a move, see it as economically unprofitable and try to prevent it.

 

“The issue is not whether individual employers are good or bad. On the contrary, employers act this way because of their class consciousness. In summary, employers resist labor organization consciously, not because they are acting emotionally.”

 

Scenes of solidarity: An unexpected car horn, a greeting from a worker or a tourist

 

Solidarity is an essential element of strikes. Eksilmez described solidarity during the Sputnik strike as “hearts building up hope” and added: “Think about it. At a time in which people can hardly find time for their families and friends, people we have never met before feel our honorable stand in their hearts, own it and come to the picket line to share it with us. This is very important for us. At the least expected moment, the honk of a car horn that is so determined it enters through the glass façade of the plaza and upsets the manager gives us hope. Sometimes a tourist on foot says hi and sometimes we are greeted with affection by a worker who may have been the victim of injustice many times before and left to fend for himself. Solidarity is an essential part of our struggle. Workers from every sector stand with us and they state this clearly. Workers in metal industry to artists, journalists to agricultural workers all stand with us, but it is not enough, we need to further increase solidarity.”

 

Eksilmez said that there were also upsetting moments during the strike: “The picket line has taught us much. I saw once more how betrayal and personal ambitions can be placed above many values. Just as I have witnessed examples of bravery, struggle, mettle and solidarity, I have witnessed sidestepping, cowardice, the overcoming love of the boss and tricks played behind our backs by those who appear as though they stand for justice. I’ve seen how those who pose as critical, as ‘leftists’ play both sides and how unscrupulous they can be when the issue is money. As I supplemented my emotions with my experiences, I came to realize what a difficult path this is.”

 

Don’t let “We’re strong together” be an empty slogan

 

Eksilmez wanted to convey a message: “Today, at a time in which crises at the highest level are being discussed, I’m a bit hesitant to demand rights by talking about the constitution, to be frank. That we should shout out ‘our constitutional rights are being violated’ during the centenary of the Republic, at a time when journalists are being arrested, many are forced to give statements or are detained under the law on disinformation and when content is being removed is important, because it should be a voice for all. At a time in which MPs elected to represent the people are being kept imprisoned despite Constitutional Court judgments, we could expand the field by taking up us being laid-off for unionizing and the journalists who are being arrested as a whole. We need to deal with injustices, especially as colleagues, with no distinction as to persons, institutions or status, as situations that need to be dealt with. Otherwise, we will remain victims looking for their own solutions all over the place, as institutions which report on yet another victim at another institution. We drew the greatest strength during this period from the solidarity network that did not let us at Sputnik become isolated. In any case, be it academics, journalists, trade unionists, educators or others, everyone concerned should openly refuse to give a statement or an interview to this media company in support of us. They may not be able to come to the picket line, but they should not forget about us on social media, they should let everyone know about the strike breakers. They can follow us on the accounts of our union, the TGS, or on the pages of Grev TV to support us. Don’t let ‘We’re strong together’ be an empty slogan. Let’s be strong, let’s be together.”

 

From collective bargaining meetings to court hearings

 

To finish with a note by İlyas Coşkun: “The Medya-İş trade union is the largest in this sector. This so-called trade union derives its power from organizing at the TRT and the Anadolu Agency with the support of the AKP. The second largest is the TÜRK-İŞ affiliated Basın-İş, which has historically organized in printing companies and packaging outside the media sector. The TGS is the third largest trade union. Only these three trade unions meet the sectoral threshold and are authorized to sign collective labor agreements. The TGS has collective labor agreements with 16 different companies in the sector. Negotiations with four others are currently at various stages. We have also applied for authorization for three other workplaces upon obtaining a majority.

 

“The matter is not just socio-economic, journalists are also struggling for editorial independence. We spend as much time in court hearings as we do at collective bargaining negotiations. In a sector which has so many problems, we try to continue the struggle and develop a solution along with a few professional organizations that are committed to journalism.

 

“I describe the situation we’re in as the profession being besieged. If we are to break this siege, we need to internalize the fact that the struggle for the economic and social rights of journalists and the struggle for editorial independence should go together. Each new collective labor agreement plays a unique role in giving us courage and increasing professional solidarity. Building up press freedom in the real sense requires the ability to unite the struggle for our collective/union rights and the struggle for editorial independence. As a trade union, this is what we aim for. We invite all our colleagues to become members of the TGS and to bear some of the load with us.”