Turkish metal workers

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... Banks (continued from page 2: “Banks steal trillions, but no jail”) ket capitalization!

Few, if anyone, questions the data above. Sources ranging from The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and The Huffington Post to The New York Times af­ firm the nature and magnitude of the rip off. The governmentaided corporate crooks have also admitted to or been con­ victed of a host of additional crimes tied to the housing col­ lapse and other financial mis­ deeds, including aiding and abetting money laundering and tax evasion swindles.

Without exception, all are the richer for their crimes, politely called misdeeds by the corpo­ rate media. Not one has been sentenced to jail! We can only add that the government’s generosity to its billionaire and trillionaire patrons comes at the expense of working peo­ ple across the country.

With the multi-trillion-dol­ lar bailout, an unprecedented austerity has been simulta­ neously imposed across the board, taking a horrific toll on the lives of the vast majority. The connection between bail­ ing out the rich and the further impoverishment of the na­ tion’s working masses is indis­ putable. Capitalism knows no other way to survive. Its abo­ lition at the hands of the op­ pressed and exploited working masses remains central to any realistic fightback strategy. n The Renault autoworkers in Bursa, Turkey, halted production on May 15. Tofaş workers, who produce Fiat cars, stopped working the following day. The wildcat strikes spread to six other factories in the metal sector in Bursa.

Several other factory workers in Bursa, Ko­ caeli, Ankara, and Sakarya either went on strike or protested against their employers. More than 20,000 workers have taken strike action, and the Renault workers are still not back to work as this paper goes to press.

The striking workers have three major de­ mands: First, they want a wage increase. Au­ toworkers in Turkey have experienced sharp wage cuts in recent years. The average hourly wage in the sector is 3.38 USD. Real wages (ad­ justed for inflation) declined by 8.2 per cent since 2009, while productivity increased annu­ ally by 3.4 per cent in Renault and by 8.1 per cent in Ford between 2010 and 2014.

Second, the workers want to expel the bu­ reaucratic, right-wing, and mafioso-controlled Türk Metal trade union from their factories. This union fully collaborates with the ruling neo-liberal Islamist Justice and Development Party. The workers want to elect their own rep­ resentatives.

And third, they want a guarantee that there will be no punitive layoffs. Retribution is not uncommon, as the right to strike is not well re­ spected in Turkey.

With this series of strikes, the Turkish work­ ing class finally dominates the scene politically. In the summer of 2013, protests to challenge an urban development scheme in Istanbul sparked a wave of demonstrations all around Turkey, involving millions of protesters. Despite work­ ers’ participation in these protests, working class organizations maintained a low profile, and working-class demands did not surface. Now, on the second anniversary of this popu­ lar revolt, the working class is beginning to rise against their corrupt union leaders and their bloodthirsty bosses. n SOCIALIST ACTION JUNE 2015 3

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Tony Savino / Socialist Action and killed Walter Scott was initially supported on his claim of self-defense. Only after a pri­ vate cell-phone tape showed Scott being shot repeatedly in the back was the officer finally charged with murder.

Of course, in the death of Freddie Gray, who died in a hospital, there is no tape to give evi­ dence contrary to the self-serving stories of the six police officers. The only eyewitnesses are the accused. Still, it seems clear that Gray was not securely restrained and suffered spinal in­ juries while in the police van, injuries that were intentionally inflicted. The prosecutor should find it relatively easy to win an indictment against these officers, but winning a convic­ tion in court is an entirely different and much more difficult matter. Precedent from previous court decisions in Baltimore and throughout the country strongly favors the cops.

Nonetheless, Democratic officials in Balti­ more have already claimed victories. Maryland Congressman Eli Cummings speaks of “a new day” in the Black community’s relations with police, one where “the wheels of justice roll.” A Voice of America article reports, “Cummings said that many of the people in Baltimore’s poorest neighborhoods have never had any kind of victory, and this announcement was one, because it made them feel as if they were being seen and heard.”

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake went fur­