200 workers at Üsküdar construction site march on Maslak over 2-3 months of unpaid wages

Around 200 construction workers employed on the "Nef Reserve Kandilli" project in Üsküdar's Kandilli district staged a protest on Thursday, 12 November, in front of Metreküp Holding's head office at Olive Plaza in Maslak, on the grounds that they had not been paid for 2-3 months. The workers said that after Metreküp İnşaat declared a concordat, they were unable to obtain the wages, daily pay and overtime they are owed.

Workers who came to Istanbul from provinces such as Van, Hakkâri and Erzurum said they could not send money to their families, could not return home and were struggling to meet their basic needs. The protest, which began at the Kandilli site on 11 November, moved to the company headquarters on 12 November. The workers said the employer kept putting them off with constant postponements and that none of the promises had been kept.

Food, hot water and heating services at the site have also been cut. One of the workers said he could not cover his child's education costs because of the unpaid wages; it was reported that the company supplying the food has also been unable to collect what it is owed, which has worsened the nutrition problems. Some employees of subcontractor firms said they could not collect their receivables from the main contractor and that the companies were blaming each other and postponing payments.

During the action, organised at the call of the We Are Breathing Down the Bosses' Necks Struggle and Solidarity Network, worker representatives met with company management as part of a delegation that also included a lawyer. It was reported that the company said it was able to make payments, but that no concrete step was taken on the subcontractors' receivables. The Revolutionary Construction, Building and Road Workers' Union (Dev Yapı İş) and the İnşaat-İş and Yapı Yol-İş unions issued statements of solidarity. The workers announced that they would continue the action until their receivables are paid. The news was reported by Mezopotamya Agency and Medyascope.