Istanbul We bused to the Asian side of Istanbul, or what the locals call the Anatolia side, across the bridge that straddles the Bosporus Straits, high over the ships below. There is literally a sign in the middle of the bridge that says “Asia” one way and Europe, when you come back the other way. …
Category: International
Chambers
Ankara The bias runs deep. When an organizer hears the word “chamber” the immediate assumption is that one is talking about a business apologist group of some kind. In Turkey a chamber is one of the professional associations created to get around unions but to keep the engineers, doctors, dentists, and others on program. Originally the …
Unions in Turkey
Ankara Not easy figuring out the way unions are put together in Turkey, but after several meetings, it seems possible to sketch out the basic process. We talked an organizer for the printing and packaging union at some length, then met with the executive committee for a unionized and recently formed cooperative printing operations, …