Workers launch first strike in Turkish IT sector

The first labor strike in Turkey’s fledgling information technology, or IT, sector, was launched Friday in the Aegean province of İzmir.

The Sosyal-İş labor union, affiliated to the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions, or DİSK, has implemented a decision to strike at the Ünibel company, which provides IT services to İzmir Metropolitan Municipality.

As the collective bargaining reached no result, a total of 37 employees started the strike on Friday, Sosyal-İş said.

“The workers at Ünibel are providing software, hardware and IT services to the municipality and its sub-units,” said Metin Ebetürk, president of Sosyal-İş. “Their salaries are way below the salaries of workers that are employed at other companies of the municipality. We have raised this issue previously, but our demands were not met.”

Ünibel workers receive 30-35 percent less money than those who work in other municipal companies, according to Ebetürk.

“To compensate for this, we demanded a 200 Turkish Lira hike on an equal basis. Unfortunately, this was not accepted,” he said. “With this strike, a first in Turkey’s IT sector, we urge the municipality and the Ünibel employer to put an end to this injustice.”

Ünibel was founded in 1994 to serve the IT needs of the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality and the Aegean University. Two of its shareholders are municipal companies, İzbeton and İzulas, while other shares belong to the municipalities of Urla, Çeşme and Aydın and the İzmir High Technology Institute.