Judges, prosecutors back Istanbul court clerk strike

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

Cihan Photo

The judges and prosecutors at an Istanbul courthouse have given their support to the courthouse’s cafeteria and teahouse contractual employees, who went on strike after not receiving their salaries for two months. 

A total of 75 teahouse and cafeteria employees working at the Anatolian Courthouse located in Kartal, a district on Istanbul’s Asian side, started a strike on Dec. 4, stating that they had not been paid for two months.

Daily Posta reported on Dec. 8 that several judges and prosecutors working at the courthouse passed out food to those on strike outside the courthouse building, expressing support for the strike.

Speaking on behalf of the judiciary personnel of the courthouse, judge Nuh Hüseyin Köse said they would not eat in the cafeteria to show their support for the employees on strike.

“Today, cafeterias are empty. Nobody’s around. We, as justices, prosecutors, court clerks, chief editors and other courthouse personnel, will not go eat in the cafeteria until these employees get paid,” Köse said, as quoted by Posta. 

Köse had previously delivered a speech in support of the striking workers outside the courthouse building on Dec. 4, saying “your problem is ours.”

“The sub-contractor company has not paid our salaries for two months. We cannot receive any payment for overtime work,” contractual cafeteria employee Turhan Doğru told Doğan News Agency, noting the courthouse administration had been conducting fraudulent activities to pay the contractual employees as little as it could. 

Meanwhile, at another courthouse in Istanbul’s Çağlayan neighborhood, nearly 170 teahouse and cafeteria employees reportedly started a strike, citing three months without salary payments, Cihan News Agency reported on Dec. 7.

The strike came as police officers on Dec. 7 fired tear gas against the employees of Sivas Iron and Steel Management (SİDEBİR), who have been on strike for a month because of nonpayment of their salaries for four months, Posta reported.

The police fired tear gas and used truncheons against around 100 employees who wanted to march along a major street. Several employees were reportedly detained after being dragged on the ground.