Turks strike in solidarity with tobacco workers

Miners, factory workers, clerks and employees of state-run power and water facilities across the country also joined the strike.

ANKARA, February 4, 2010 (AFP) - Thousands of Turkish public employees went on strike and many took to the streets Thursday to show solidarity with tobacco industry workers, locked in a bitter row with the government.

Labour confederations called a nine-hour general strike, but the protest had a limited impact on vital services after some unions shied away and the authorities threatened disciplinary action against those who stopped work.

Public transport was seriously disrupted in Izmir, Turkey's third largest city, the NTV news channel said, and occasional delays were reported on Ankara's subway.

Miners, factory workers, clerks and employees of state-run power and water facilities across the country also joined the strike, media reports said.

In Istanbul, train and bus services as well as air transport were unaffected.

Thousands of people however joined demonstrations held across the country in support of the 12,000 workers made redundant by the privatisation of the state tobacco monopoly TEKEL in 2008, chanting anti-government slogans.

The strike was called after talks with the government over the workers' fate collapsed Monday.

The row has grown into the most embarrassing labour movement for the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party since it came to power in 2002 with promises to defend the rights of workers and the poor.

The tobacco workers have demanded alterative jobs but the government has offered them only a status as seasonal workers with lower salaries.

Almost 2,000 of the tobacco workers have been camping in sub-zero temperatures in central Ankara since early December, dismissing calls by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to end the protest.