Union lays black wreath outside Education Ministry
MEMBERS of the Public Workers Union (Kamu-İş) laid a black wreath in front of the National Education Ministry as part of an ongoing strike by cleaners at state schools.
Speaking at the small protest held on Thursday last week, Kamu-İş chairman Ahmet Serdaroğlu said that some 230 cleaners, who are employed by a company that has a contract with the National Education Ministry to provide cleaning services at state schools, want a collective bargaining agreement after they complained of not being paid properly and that their rights as workers are being violated.
Mr Serdaroğlu said that Kamu-İş has written to the National Education Ministry “many times” regarding the matter.
While the cleaners “knew from the very beginning” that they would not be hired as public sector workers, Mr Serdaroğlu said that unionised employees now have the right to collective bargaining.
On Monday Mr Serdaroğlu announced that cleaners at another 16 state primary and secondary schools had joined an “indefinite strike” that was being held at nine schools.