Atakum municipal workers wait months for pay: ‘We want our wages, not charity’

Months of unpaid wages at Atakum Municipality spilled into the council chamber after a decision to seek credit failed to result in payments.

Mutlu Karabacak, the Samsun branch chair of the DİSK Genel-İş union, entered the meeting and protested the situation. He said municipal workers could no longer make ends meet and demanded that their wages be paid without delay.

As Karabacak raised his voice, council deputy chair Halil Taşkın intervened. Taşkın said the issue could be discussed outside the chamber after the meeting, then ended the session.

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Now we are also being left alone with the desperation of not receiving our wages for months. We want the wages we earned months ago, not charity.

Karabacak later made a statement outside the municipal building with union members. He said high inflation and falling purchasing power had already made life difficult for municipal workers. “Now we are also being left alone with the desperation of not receiving our wages for months,” he said. “We want the wages we earned months ago, not charity.”

Karabacak also warned that workers would stop working if the situation continued. “No one should doubt that we will carry out work stoppages if this situation continues,” he said.

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No one should doubt that we will carry out work stoppages if this situation continues.