IZMIR, Turkey — Turkish well being care employees within the Aegean coastal metropolis of Izmir, enraged {that a} Dec. 1 invoice elevating docs’ pay ignored them, have thrown copies of their diplomas within the trash to protest what they name inadequate and discriminatory laws.
Nurses, medical attendants, lab assistants and different well being care personnel will strike all through Turkey to protest each poor pay and harsh working situations. Turkey logs about 20,000 new COVID-19 circumstances and 180 deaths day by day however to date no circumstances of the omicron variant of COVID-19, in keeping with Well being Minister Fahrettin Koca. Nonetheless, Alper Sener, a member of the nation’s advisory COVID-19 board, stated it was extremely probably that the variant will quickly be seen in Turkey.
“Notably in these important instances, when well being care employees are doing their finest, it shouldn’t be forgotten that well being care is teamwork, so we would like enchancment for all well being care employees,” Omer Erdem, the communications director for Nurses and Health Care Workers Union (HEPSEN), informed Al-Monitor. “Whereas the parliament has handed laws to enhance the salaries of docs, nurses and different well being care employees, who additionally face and combat the pandemic, have been ignored. Immediately, many nurses working in Turkey are on the brink of poverty.”
Heralded as heroes by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan firstly of the pandemic, Turkey’s docs and different well being care employees have grown more and more annoyed with the federal government’s handling of the crisis, a lack of transparency within the information on infections and deaths resulting from COVID-19 and measures to guard well being personnel. On Nov. 23, the Turkish Medical Affiliation (TTB) organized a march from Istanbul to Ankara to protest the brutal working situations and financial hardships. The White March warned that many medical professionals sought to depart the nation the place they face low salaries, lengthy hours and violence. Docs physically and verbally assaulted within the final 11 years quantity effectively over 100,000. At the very least 10 have been killed by sufferers.
Prodded by Koca, the federal government added an article to the omnibus invoice to extend the salaries of docs by 2,500-5,000 Turkish lira ($180-$360), main well being care unions such because the Well being and Social Service Laborers Union (SES) and HEPSEN to announce protests. Implementation of the pay increase was shelved and Koca stated that an total enchancment of well being care employees might be debated at a future date, additional enraging the sector.
“First we’ve got a pay increase, then we don’t. All of that is because of the Well being Ministry’s failure to control … and its tendency to take hasty steps earlier than correct preparations,” a terse Dec. 5 statement from the TTB, calling on Koca to go earlier than the cameras and clarify whether or not there might be a pay increase for docs or not. In one other assertion on Dec. 7, the TTB stated that it backed the calls for of the entire sector — not simply docs — for higher pay, working situations and pensions.
“We have been informed that the well being care employees would additionally get a increase, between 750 and 1,000 Turkish lira — the equal of $55 to $75. We hear that it will be taken up on Dec. 22,” Erdem stated. “It’s not merely a query of wage; there are lots of different points from pensions to work hours.”
Many well being care employees need the fitting to early retirement and laws on working hours that might penalize establishments for requiring shifts past 14 hours.
In Istanbul, well being care personnel threw away the copies of their diplomas on the dustbin at Bakirkoy Hospital. Well being care employees who learn out a press release in entrance of Capa Hospital tried to carry a rally however have been prevented by the police.
“From nurses to lab employees to attendants, we work collectively to make sure that the individuals who come to hospitals get good service regardless of the gaps,” SES office consultant Aydin Erol stated in Istanbul. “Whereas many individuals are afraid of getting into hospitals throughout the pandemic, we fed sufferers with our fingers. We within the sector have misplaced associates. We acquired sick however then acquired again to our toes and have accomplished our responsibility. We have been informed that our contribution was priceless and, true sufficient, they paid nothing.”
The strikes come amid rising concern from all sectors on the state of Turkey’s economic system. The Turkish lira has misplaced 40% of its worth because the starting of the yr, 27% of it within the final three weeks. Inflation has jumped above 21%, eroding incomes and upending the budgets of many Turks.
On Dec. 7, the Minimal Wage Committee, which brings collectively representatives of Turkish enterprise, labor and the federal government, held its second spherical of talks. The gross minimal wage in Turkey is 3,577 lira ($264) per 30 days — the lowest in Europe. Erdogan pledged final week that he wouldn’t let Turks be “eaten up by the inflation monster” however the authorities proposal of a 21% enhance — as in final yr — was rejected by the labor representatives. The Confederation of Progressive Labor Unions of Turkey maintains that the minimal wage for 2022 needs to be round 5,200 lira ($384) per 30 days. Its members held an indication in entrance of the Labor Ministry on Dec. 3 and introduced that they may maintain one other Sunday.
