Extraordinary Meeting
of our Union’s Presidential Council
The
extraordinary meeting of our union’s Presidential
Council was held on the 1st of February under the chairmanship of President Çetin ALTUN. The council focused on the preparations underway for the
collective bargaining agreement which will be effective as of 2005 at the Turkish Hard Coal Enterprises (TTK) and Minerals Exploration
and Research Institute (MTA). The council also discussed
the developments at the TTK and the
procurements which it has issued.
ALTUN
delivered the below statement at the session which
was open to the press;
“Our country is at the cross-road
to decide upon very important
issues due to the developments
in the region. Turkey is at a point where it is politically dependent to the
EU and financially dependent to the
US. Our external dept is 300 billion dollars and still
we implement the IMF policies which deprives the values of production
economy. We are consuming foreign
goods while continuing to take
loans.
Turkey
is in need of coal production however the production rate of the enterprise
is decreasing. Turkey needs paper and
pulp but the Paper and Pulp
Enterprise is closing down. Turkey needs
iron and steel however Erdemir Iron and Steel
Enterprise is faced with block share
sale. Turkey needs medicine but the factories of Social Insurance Institute is on sale. The education system
in Turkey is corrupted but the state is taking
a backward step. The social protection system is insufficient, again the state
is taking a backward
step.
The
level of production at the Turkish Hard Coal Enterprise can reach up to
5 million tons/year if the
necessary investments are made and
new recruitments are employed. The
Prime Minister promised
2000 thousand new recruitments for the enterprise during his visit to Zonguldak, however these promises are not fulfilled yet.”