Union says salaries have not been paid for months
‘Social security contributions of workers at the TRNC Air Sports Federation have not been paid for 18 months’
THE Equal Rights and Justice Trade Union (Haksen) launched a vehicular protest in front of the Prime Ministry with its members who work for the TRNC Air Sports Federation claiming that they have not received their salaries for four months and that their social security contributions have not been paid for 18 months.
The federation employees, who gathered in front of the Prime Ministry with their vehicles, tents and air sports equipment, stated that they would continue their protests until they are able to “put food on the table”.
In the protest that started at 10am, flames were blasted into the air from the base of a hot air balloon placed in front of the Prime Ministry and a banner was hung that read: “Those [whose bellies] are full don’t understand the hungry.”
Haksen president Eren Büyükoğlu said in a speech at the protest that because the annual budget allocation for sports federations and sports unions had not been transferred to the Air Sports Federation, employees had not been paid, adding that “although they reported this situation to the authorities many times, no-one has dealt with it”.
“Our friends now want to put food on their table,” Mr Büyükoğlu said. “It doesn’t matter whether we are hungry at home or here. We are here and we are determined.”
Noting that a letter was “hurriedly” written from the Prime Ministry to the
Finance Ministry in the morning to contribute 4.5 million TL to the Federation to “cover salaries and operating expenses”, Mr Büyükoğlu asked why this letter had not been written for four months.
Speaking to a reporter, he said that the monthly net salary of 18 TRNC Air Sports Federation employees is approximately 175,000TL.
Federation head Zeki Ziya said that the authorities are “constantly trying to stall” them and that “there will be no results if we don’t kick up a storm”.