All Pensioners' Union took to the streets again in the 35th week of the sit-in protest it initiated to draw attention to the economic and social demands of retirees. Semra Süren, Term Spokesperson of the union and Head of Buca Branch, who read the press release, stated that pensions are rapidly melting away against inflation and said, "We do not want to make a living, but a pension to live humanely." During the statement, slogans such as "Salvation is in our own arms, salvation is in the organized united struggle", "There is no salvation alone, either all together or none of us", "Long live class solidarity" and "Long live our organized struggle" were chanted.
“WE ARE BEING RAPIDLY BEING POORIZED THROUGH INFLATION”
Stating that pensions are rapidly losing value against inflation, Süren said, "Our pensions are eroding at a rapid pace every day. We are being rapidly impoverished through inflation. While the laborers have decreased, the capital has increased. In these days when we are having difficulty keeping up with the pace of the economic and political agenda in the country, the poverty and deprivation of working retirees continues to increase." Stating that the problems experienced in agriculture negatively affect both the producer and the consumer, Süren said, "Due to the accelerating collapse in agriculture, we are witnessing that the prices that devastate the producers in the field turn into a situation in which they devastate the consumers in the market. Our pensions are melting at a rapid pace every day. We are rapidly becoming poorer through inflation. While some companies have increased their profitability exponentially compared to the same period of the previous year, workers and laborers have become poor at the same speed. While the laborers have decreased, the capital has increased."
“PENSIONERS SHOULD NOT BE MADE AS ELECTION BARGAINING MATERIAL”
Making evaluations about the political agenda, Süren said that promises to retirees will come to the agenda again with the upcoming election debates. Süren said, "The latest statements and events show that the country is rapidly preparing for the election. In this preparation, a chain of deceptive promises to retirees is being put into action."
Süren, who wanted retirees not to be remembered only during election periods, said, "Working retirees should know that no political profit and interest group party will solve their problems and should take an attitude accordingly. We should see their demands not as an election bargaining material, but as mandatory struggle targets for our lives."
“IF WE ARE TO WIN, WE WILL WIN WITH ORGANIZED STRUGGLE”
Calling on retirees to organize, Süren said, "Whatever retired workers will gain will be gained through an organized, determined, long-term struggle based on their own strength. Stand up against the fake heroes, the repeated stale tales, who will knock on your door with fancy lies again in the near future, with your justified demands and your organized power. Those who died while working in mines, constructions, factories, industrial sites, those who struggled in the fields for days to get their wages, the villagers whose lands and nature were usurped, without being able to feed themselves in their schools." "Let's listen to the rising voices of angry children going to class, university students who cannot find shelter, and young people who are unemployed after graduating from university," he said.
“BUDGET FOR WORKERS AND PENSIONERS, NOT FOR WAR”
Referring to the increasing war expenditures in the world, Süren argued that government budgets were transferred to the war industry instead of the rights of the workers.
Süren said, "Government budgets, formed by the usurped rights of workers all over the world, are transferred to the war industry. They spend trillions of dollars on warplanes, warships, weapons produced with the latest technology, bombs and missiles that will mass-destroy people and destroy cities. Capitalism does not promise a humane, equal and free life, but war, destruction and death."
Listing the demands of the retirees, Süren said, "We will not engage in election bargaining over the usurped rights of the retirees. A pay raise is a usurped right, we want what is ours. We do not want to make ends meet, we want a pension that will live humanely. We do not want a charity, we want a pension determined by a collective agreement."
