Mimihan Halbin Zaidan

Van_ Amid policies that push women in Turkey to the margins and burden them with the invisible load of domestic work, their presence in the streets is renewed to affirm that the struggle for social and economic justice remains an urgent necessity.

Women go to the May Day squares carrying their anger and demands against unemployment, precarious working conditions, exploitation of effort, and psychological harassment. The policies that exclude women and forcibly confine them to the home and family make them dependent on men, while the impact of their domestic care work is comoletely erased and its value unrecogized.

Capitalism, the state, and patriarchal structures collude to place the full burden of domestic work on women, evading care responsibilities. As for waged women workes, they face double exploitation inside workplaces.

In this context, Vigen Çolakoğlu, co‑chair of the Health and Social Services Workers' Union (SES) Van branch, provided a comprehensive reading of women's trade union realities and their demands on May Day.

She explained that they struggle for "a basic wage that guarantees a dignified life, a safe working environment, and the right and freedom to organize in trade unions," affirming the importance of workers being organized in unions within this struggle.

She added: "Recently, mine workers organized a resistance movement. The determination there, and the form of organized resistance, turned into an actual gain. This showed that an organized structure – i.e., the union – when it engages in a genuine union struggle, achieves gains."

Vigen Çolakoğlu stressed that the union's priority is to protect the rights of workers and toilers. "What we defend is fair compensation for the work we do. The union struggles to secure legal and institutional protection for individuals against arbitrary dismissal. The phenomenon of psychological harassment (mobbing) is common in workplaces. Unfortunately, in many work environments, discrimination occurs based on gender, culture, language, or belief. There is also the issue of wage theft, and we can again cite the mine workers' struggle as an example."

She added: "On the side of solidarity and representation, unions are an essential party. They must be in a position to protect their members, strengthen solidarity, and build their organization and membership."

May Day demands

Vigen Çolakoğlu pointed to the demands that emerge on May Day, affirming the need to completely eliminate unsafe and unstable working conditions. She added: "There is tax injustice. Tax deductions must be proportional to income. When we say tax justice, this is exactly what we mean. The rich should be deducted according to their income, and the poor according to theirs. This injustice must end. Today, some employers benefit from tax exemptions, while a worker receiving a laughably low minimum wage is not exempted from taxes. The employer, despite their huge income, is exempted from taxes. We must also mention rights violations such as forced overtime, psychological harassment, violence, and discrimination. Based on all this, we build a struggle focused on achieving gains."

"Street data does not match TÜİK figures"

Vigen Çolakoğlu referred to the data announced by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) regarding inflation rates, affirming that these figures do not reflect reality.

She stressed the need to make improvements according to "the living reality of people on the street," not according to official figures. She said: "We have struggled for years for the freedom to organize in unions and the right to strike, and we must continue this struggle because the right to strike and collective bargaining is the essence of union struggle and cannot be dispensed with. We do not say 'work accidents' but 'work crimes.' Why? Because operating workers for long hours is one of the reasons that opens the way for these crimes. Therefore, we call them work crimes, not accidents."

She added that public and private sector workers who have reached or are approaching retirement age live in great anxiety. "People wonder: Will I be able to live when I retire? There is no pension sufficient for living. We have basic demands: health and education must be free. Why do we demand that? Because the concept of a social state is based on this. If a state describes itself as democratic, it must include a social fabric that provides these rights. But today, the state almost manages these sectors as if they were commercial enterprises."

Vigen Çolakoğlu also affirmed that there is injustice in income distribution, pointing out that the country suffers from a real unemployment problem. "Lowering production quality reflects on society as decreased productivity. These are important elements. There is a very serious brain drain in the country. People migrate to Europe to be able to continue their lives and build their futures. All these things are interconnected. Therefore, we hope for days when rights are protected, labor is not exploited, and a free and equal life is built. We as women workers demand equality. We have a goal to expand the struggle further. We will continue on this path without retreat."