In a statement, SEAL said the strike notice on work beyond the normal period on working days and “for all work on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays” between 8am on Monday and 8am on 2 June, was published on 6 May.
The union said at the time that it had “some moderate optimism” about reaching a “global understanding” at a meeting held last Thursday, “the last one that could be held before the announced strike became effective.”
“To our astonishment, it came to our attention that, on the eve of the meeting, the Yilport group had stepped up its anti-union practices, determining that [the strike] would be an unwarranted absence and, in addition, any worker in its staff or its ‘pool’ who did not arrive at work due to any workers’ meeting the company considered unilaterally illegal would be prevented from resuming work in the following 24 hours,’ the statement said.
The union added that other “anti-union practices” are being reviewed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and that several examples were listed in the strike notice, emphasising that the company’s position ended up dominating the discussions at Thursday’s meeting.
“The representative of the Yilport group company split his time between the orders he allegedly had received from Istanbul and his legal argument that was so radical and incomprehensible that even his own peers did not corroborate it,” the statement said.
The strike notice added that the stalemate in negotiations was also due to issues related to wage rises and the distribution of the work at the port.