‘Those who don’t give me my money live in luxury’

"Akgiray; sell your villa and pay us our due"

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"I used to know neither the police nor the union. One day, I went to the protest in front of Özyeğin University. That was an eye-opener," says Dilek Aslan, a former worker of the Bimeks electronics retailer.

Aslan worked for Bimeks for 9.5 years; but the company declared bankruptcy and she is still not paid her unpaid wages or severence. In fact, how Aslan's attitude has changed in the course of this process shows what kind of a difference the "exposure protests" of Bimeks workers make.

Not paid their wages and severance for four years, Bimeks workers have been protesting in a rather unprecedented way. Wherever Murat and Vedat Akgiray brothers, the owners of Bimeks, go, they turn this place into a site of protest. This method of "exposure", most recently used by women in exposing harassers, has turned into an effective tool for workers to raise public awareness about their problems.

Because wherever they turned to, doors were shut in their face. They filed criminal complaints against Akgiray brothers in 13 different provinces, stating that Akgirays committed the crime of aggravated fraud; however, all these complaints have ended in non-prosecution. In the meantime, lawsuits are being filed against the workers over their protest. One of these trials was heard in İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan today (January 13).

To learn more about the workers' striking method of protest against the bosses, we have spoken with Betül Celep, the spokesperson for the Hope Union (Umut-Sen), its organization coordinator Başaran Aksu and Bimeks worker Dilek Aslan.

'Who is the boss, where does he live?'

Betül Celep says that the efforts targeting the "identities" of Akgiray brothers known by the public is based on the idea of disturbing them. "We are trying to exert pressure, in a sense," she says and continues as follows:

"Who is the boss and where does he live? This is an ontological question for our protests. When we came together for the first time, some workers did not think that they were being robbed. We went in front of the bosses' house, which helped them to believe it. When we look at it from the perspective of workers, exposing the real face of the bosses also means discrediting them in the eyes of the workers. It is perhaps the most important of all."

'I went to the protest in front of Özyeğin first'

Dilek Aslan had worked for Bimeks for 9.5 years. When she started working there, her son was four years old and has asthma. He is now 17 years old and takes medicine everyday. Aslan also has a daughter aged 26. She says that if she can finally receive her unpaid wages and severance, she can at least do something for her children. Aslan, a worker in the forefront of the protests, shares her experience in following words:

"I could just whistle for my severance pay. I said, 'If it is paid, it will be like a lottery.' I was telling my husband, 'They will give it when their economic condition improves.' He would say, 'Dilek, they won't.'

"Then, Emine called me. 'We got together as workers. There is the Umut-Sen, they are helping out,' she told me. I used to know neither the police nor unions. When I said 'union' to my husband, he said, 'Dilek, please stay away from this, we will get in trouble.'

"One day, Emine brought me in front of Özyeğin University. People were saying 'my rights' there. I said to myself, 'Why didn't I demand my rights till now?' That was where my eyes were opened."

Solidarity with students

Aslan also talks about why they especially prefer going in front of universities: "A university is a well-known place. As we think that universities are more visible, we go there. I want to go there a lot as I think that the students there will support us. I also want to go in front of their villas. I want to make them ashamed in front of their neighbours. They live in luxury. I still cannot comprehend that they live in villas."

What enrages her most is the silence of Boğaziçi University, one of the most prestigious universities in Turkey, in the face of their calls about Vedat Akgiray, who is still teaching classes in the university.

She was touched a lot by the violence inflicted on the students who supported them in their protests. She says:

"During the first detention, they detained a student who supported us by dragging him on the ground. I had no more strength to stand. I was taken to the police car, they brought the student later on. He looked like my son. I cried out loud when I saw this child on the ground. They hit him in his head, they kicked him many times. I could not stand it when I saw him."

As for Başaran Aksu, he emphasizes that the pandemic conditions and the absence of students at universities are huge disadvantages on their part in terms of raising publicity. He underlines that students still join the Bimeks workers' protests in front of universities and display solidarity on social media. Students' clubs and Boğaziçi Solidarity platform also publish statements for them and keep supporting the workers' protest.

(MEÖ/SO/SD)