5 – No guarantee of rights
The ITUC Global Rights Index

Turkey

In practice

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Police use pepper spray and arrest 108 striking workers at Farplas factory31-01-2022

In the early days of January, workers at Farplas automotive factory in Kocaeli province demanded a wage increase. However, finding the pay rise offer made on 19 January insufficient, the workers halted work at the factory in protest. The employer started negotiating with workers, promising that no workers would be dismissed in this process.
While production resumed on 20 January, the negotiations also continued. In the meantime, the workers who were not members of a union started joining the United Metalworkers’ Union. They also received their authorisation certificate to engage in collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.
Amid these developments, the employer summarily dismissed nearly 150 workers, both members and non-members of the union, referring to their protest on 19 January as justification for their dismissal.
The workers of the Farplas locked themselves up in the factory for their union rights on 31 January. While production stopped at the factory, the dismissed workers started protesting inside the factory.
Police stormed the Farplas factory, dispersing them with pepper gas. They arrested workers, including United Metalworkers’ Union Gebze No. 2 Branch Chair Necmettin Aydın and Branch Secretary Engin Kulu, and took them out of the factory in five detention minibuses. Police continued to spray pepper gas on workers who tried to prevent the detention vehicles from leaving the factory. Two people fainted during the intervention. One worker reportedly had his leg broken.
One hundred eight people in total – 106 workers and union representatives at the factory and two executives of the DGD-SEN Union who came to the factory in support – were taken to the Gebze District Security Directorate.
The 108 detained workers, union representatives and executives were released after giving their statements.
Farplas is a supplier for Renault, FIAT, Toyota, Hyundai and Ford.

Food delivery company obstructs union organising21-01-2022

Turkey’s flagship delivery company, Yemeksepeti (Turkish for “Food Basket”), did all it could in 2021 to prevent its workers from joining a union.
First, Yemeksepeti managers changed their drivers’ job title to office workers, thereby removing them from the list of workers who have the right to access an online, state-run system where they can join a trade union. It also prevented them from getting early access to vaccines because while transport workers were on the priority list, office workers weren’t.
When the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Turkey and drivers for Banabi, the grocery branch of Yemeksepeti, realised they could not get priority access, they launched a campaign demanding their rights.
The company forgot, however, to change the occupational status of Banabi drivers in three provinces, Yalova, Düzce and Manisa. Workers in these provinces realised they were able to sign up for vaccines, while their colleagues elsewhere could not. This made national news in June 2021, raising the profile of the drivers’ struggle to unionise.
In July, Yemeksepeti CEO Nevzat Aydın filed objections in court to block the Banabi workers’ unionisation efforts.
They continued to organise, nonetheless. Eventually, a majority of Yemeksepeti workers became members of the All Transport Workers Union (TÜMTİS). The Ministry of Labour issued TÜMTİS a certificate of authorisation for collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
. This time, the company filed a lawsuit in court in objection to the authorisation, starting a lengthy judicial process.
In September, some of the country’s largest trade unions, trade associations and consumer unions declared a boycott boycott A collective refusal to buy or use the goods or services of an employer to express disapproval with its practices. Primary boycotts are used to put direct pressure on an employer, while a secondary boycott involves the refusal to deal with a neutral employer with the view of dissuading it from patronising the target employer. of the company.
Amid mounting pressure, Aydın resigned from his position at the beginning of November. But the company continued to obstruct union organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. while also putting huge pressure on employees until they resign and then replacing them with contract labour.

Significant progress made at Cargill12-11-2021

Cargill in Turkey has now recognised IUF-affiliated Tekgıda-İş, and negotiations towards a first collective agreement have started.
Cargill has a long history of union busting union busting Attempts by an employer to prevent the establishment of a trade union or remove an existing union, e.g. by firing union members, challenging unions in court, or by forming a yellow union. and anti-union discrimination anti-union discrimination Any practice that disadvantages a worker or a group of workers on grounds of their past, current or prospective trade union membership, their legitimate trade union activities, or their use of trade union services. Can constitute dismissal, transfer, demotion, harassment and the like.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework

. On 17 April 2018, 14 workers at Cargill’s starch plant in Bursa-Orhangazi were dismissed while trying to form a union. Turkish courts, despite company appeals, determined that the workers were unfairly dismissed, and ordered their reinstatement. Cargill stubbornly refused to reinstate them and contended that the workers were dismissed because the plant was forced to downsize. However, it appears that the plant had hired nine new permanent workers since December 2019 and had failed to offer these jobs first to those dismissed. Cargill has long resisted any attempts to establish workers’ representation; between 2012 and 2015, seven other workers were dismissed at the same factory for the same reason.
In January 2021, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association wrote to Cargill as part of a UN special procedure to investigate allegations of abuses of human rights. In its reply, Cargill still purported that the seven earlier dismissals in 2012, 2014 and 2015 involved employees “all of whom separated under unique circumstances and none of whom were discriminated against based upon their union status”, in clear contradiction with the decision of the Turkish Supreme Court.

Newspaper dismisses eight union members06-11-2021

After the Journalists Union of Turkey (TGS) signed its first collective agreement in 18 years with the newspaper Cumhuriyet in mid-November 2021, the management dismissed eight journalists and union members on 29 November. TGS believed this to be a discriminatory and retaliatory move against the union organisation.
In response, on 30 November, TGS organised a protest with journalists and press freedom advocates in front of Cumhuriyet’s headquarters in Istanbul at 11 a.m. local time. Although Cumhuriyet put forward economic reasons for the dismissals, the TGS general secretary, Mustafa Kuleli, stressed that this decision showed that the newspaper’s management “continues its anti-union policies”. All affected colleagues were active members of the union.
The dismissed workers were Olcay Büyüktaş Akça chief editor; Sami Gürel, sports manager; Rüya Özkalkan, chief editor; Hilal Köse, Cumhuriyet Sunday manager;
Tuğba Özer, reporter; Ece Piroğlu, reporter; Vedat Arık, photojournalist; and Mahmut Gündüz, archivist.

Cumhuriyet’s editor-in-chief, Aykut Küçükkaya, said during the protest that the board’s decision was taken without his consent. Calling on the board to retract the decision and reinstate the laid-off employees, Küçükkaya added that he would “continue to support the struggle of the journalists who were fired”.
Cumhuriyet journalists cited the Cumhuriyet Foundation’s chair, Alev Coşkun; its secretary-general, Işık Kansu; and board members Osman Özer and Adnan Arslan as the “architects” of the decision, and called for all four to resign. Aykut Küçükkaya was removed from his post after expressing his support for the dismissed journalists.
The workers’ protest received widespread support, including from the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ). On 6 November, Cumhuriyet announced that the journalists that it dismissed would be reinstated in their jobs and called for “labour peace.”

Strike at Bel Karper continues after seven years of rights violations by Groupe Bel18-10-2021

The strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
by Bel workers in Turkey for the right to collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
entered its sixth month as international solidarity has continued to grow. Though Groupe Bel claims to uphold human rights in its corporate policies, in practice the French multinational company practices union-busting and seeks to maximise profits at the expense of local communities in Turkey.
When the majority of workers at Bel Karper in Corlu joined the IUF affiliate Tekgıda-İş in April 2015, instead of recognising the workers’ right to organise and collectively bargain, the company went on an almost six-year legal battle to deny workers their rights. On 26 November 2020, the Supreme Court ruled in the union’s favour and approved the union’s bargaining status. Despite the Labour Ministry’s issuance of a certificate of bargaining union status on 5 January 2021, Groupe Bel refused to enter into negotiations, and so the workers had no option but to exercise their legal right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
, which they did on 17 May 2021.
The IUF has repeatedly called on Groupe Bel to enter into negotiations with Tekgıda-İş and is actively campaigning to push Groupe Bel to the negotiating table.

Attempted union-busting and mass dismissals at smartphone company 01-10-2021

When workers at smartphone producer Salcomp Turkey exercised their fundamental right to join a trade union, they faced intimidation, threats and dismissals.
Salcomp produces smart phones for the Chinese multinational Xiaomi, the second largest smartphone maker in the world. There are around 800 workers on the site in Istanbul, with plans to increase the workforce to 2,000.
Working conditions at the Salcomp Turkey plant in Istanbul were untenable. During the pandemic, workers were forced to work eleven hours per day, although their contracts say eight hours. Overtime was imposed without the workers’ consent and only partly paid. Breaks could only be taken at the managers’ discretion, and since there was no canteen, workers had to eat in containers for a while. Many workers became ill with COVID-19.
When the workers decided to join the Turkish metalworkers’ union Türk Metal in August 2021, management launched a union-busting campaign. Workers were intimidated and threatened, and 170 union members were dismissed. Around 80 per cent of the dismissed workers were women.
Salcomp management summoned workers to say that “union members have to resign from their affiliation with Türk Metal” and that “the company will make the necessary improvements in their wages and working conditions”.
When workers protested, management responded by locking all doors. According to reports, workers inside the factory were not allowed to use the toilets and were banned from using their mobile phones, cutting off communication with other workers.
After six days the protests yielded results. Salcomp management agreed to reinstate all dismissed union members, withdraw from the lawsuit challenging the collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
certificate issued by the Ministry of Labour, and start collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
negotiations on 1 October.

IUF files complaint with ILO regarding ongoing freedom of association violations in Turkey12-07-2021

On 12 July 2021, the IUF filed a complaint with the International Labour Organization International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.

See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights
’s Committee on Freedom of Association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework
regarding the government of Turkey’s violations of ILO International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.

See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights
Conventions 87 and 98, which protect workers’ rights to freely organise trade unions and to collectively bargain.
The complaint, which cites Cargill, Olam Group and Döhler Group, details how Turkish law and practice fail to provide both sufficient protection against and effective remedy in cases of anti-union dismissal. A loophole in Turkish law permits employers in Turkey to pay enhanced compensation, at their own choosing, to a worker unfairly dismissed for union activity rather than comply with court-ordered reinstatement.
As the complaint demonstrates, employers, like transnational companies Cargill, Olam Group and Döhler Group, illegally dismiss union leaders, systematically exploit this loophole in Turkish law and opt to pay for their human rights violations rather than reinstate the victimised workers, all to prevent their employees from organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. a union.
A blatant example of union-busting practices in Turkey is the case of ingredients giant Döhler Group. In March 2016, Turkey’s Labour Ministry granted Tekgıda-İş collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
status at Döhler Turkey. Since then, Döhler Group management in Turkey has engaged in a concerted effort to deny workers their trade union rights. It has unfairly dismissed workers for union activity; illegally interrogated workers for their e-state details to check their union status and pressured them to resign their union membership (those who have refused to disclose their e-state details have been sacked); and forced workers, mostly union members, to resign and be re-employed by a subcontractor in an attempt to destroy the union. Additionally, Döhler failed to collectively bargain with the workers’ formally recognised union, Tekgıda-İş.
While the ILO International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.

See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights
’s Committee on Freedom of Association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework
has on repeated occasions expressed that the appropriate remedy for a retaliatory dismissal because of trade union activity is reinstatement, the government of Turkey, despite its ratification of ILO International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.

See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights
Conventions 87 and 98, has allowed this legal loophole to remain; the complaint calls for the closing of this loophole and demands Turkey comply with international standards.

ASD Laminat Factory fires union-affiliated workers after expiration of COVID “lay-off ban” 30-06-2021

Fifty-four workers of the ASD Laminat Factory in Düzce, Turkey, were dismissed as a result of their membership to the Turkish Wood and Paper Industry Workers’ Union (AGAC-IS). The company refused to recognise the union and resorted to union-busting schemes, such as arbitrarily dismissing unionists and pressuring other workers to renounce their union membership. After a four-year legal battle, a local court ruled in favour of the workers’ reinstatement earlier this year. However, the company continued to defy the court’s decision and has intensified its anti-union practices.

On 30 June, it started dismissing workers immediately after the pandemic “lay-off ban” was lifted. As of 14 July, another 19 workers were fired. AGAC-IS started organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. protest actions in front of the company to press for their rights. It said that it is expecting authorisation in a few months to start the process of collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
negotiations, even as it prepares to fight for the reinstatement of the remaining dismissed workers.

Imprisoned trade unionist receives conditional release from prison15-06-2021

Cihan Erdal was ordered to be released on 15 June 2021 pending the conclusion of his criminal trial. Cihan is a member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, a sociologist, an academic, youth researcher, a peace activist and an LGBTI+ activist. He is a PhD student at Carleton University in Canada. He had been detained in September 2020 in Istanbul, Turkey, where he was conducting PhD research. He was kept in a basement cell of a detention centre with no air circulation and daylight for eight days before he was transferred to a prison in Ankara.

His release is conditional on his remaining in Turkey and reporting to the local police station twice per week. These restrictions will prevent Cihan from returning to his home in Ottawa, Canada, where his family lives. He also remains at risk of future imprisonment based on charges that are clear violations of his freedom of association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework
and freedom of expression.

Cihan was imprisoned because he was a member of the People’s Democratic Party in Turkey (HDP in Turkish). The HDP was and is a legal political party that opposes many of the policies of the current Turkish government.

Erdal’s arrest last year was part of a large-scale roundup of HDP supporters. According to the government, the HDP incited a deadly insurrection in October 2014, when it urged thousands of people to take to the streets in southeastern Turkey to protest against Ankara’s failure to protect Syrian Kurds against Isis.

Prosecutors have charged a total of 108 defendants and are seeking multiple life sentences and thousands of years in prison without parole.

Leaders of health and social services union arrested25-05-2021

Eight leaders of the Trade Union of Employees in Public Health and Social Services (SES) were arrested on unspecified charges on 25 May 2021 after police forces raided their houses in the early hours of the day.
They were taken to the Ankara Police Department. They were arrested without being informed about the charges, and their lawyers had no access to their files.
The arrested trade union leaders were Ms Selma Atabey, co-president; Ms Gonul Erden, former co-president; Mr Fikret Calagan, former executive committee member;
Ms Bedriye Yorgun, former president; Ms Belkis Yurtsever, former executive committee member; Ms Rona Temelli, former executive of the SES Branch in Ankara;
Mr Ramazan Tas, former executive of the SES Branch in Ankara; and Mr Erdal Turan, former executive of the SES Branch in Ankara.

In a joint protest letter to President Erdogan, the ITUC and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) stated: “It is clear that these arrests are an attempt to silence trade unionists who have raised concerns about your government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. SES has, since the outbreak, highlighted that hundreds of health workers and tens of thousands of citizens lost their lives as your government kept factories, other manufacturing facilities, and workplaces open without paying attention to public health.”

Intimidation and union-busting at food industry supplier 17-05-2021

When workers arrived at the Döhler Karaman factory on 17 May 2021, they were met with a large police presence, complete with riot gear and water cannons.
The company’s employees had faced five years of attempts to deny them the right to organise at the company, which provides the food industry with technology-based ingredients. 17 May was the date on which they were due to decide on strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
action against the company’s latest attempts at union-busting.
Over the previous five years, Döhler Group management in Turkey had unfairly dismissed union members; started illegally interrogating workers and pressured them to resign their union membership; forced workers to resign and be re-employed by a subcontractor in an attempt to destroy the union by shrinking the bargaining unit bargaining unit A group of workers within a particular company, establishment, industry or occupation that constitutes an appropriate unit for the purpose of collective bargaining.

See bargaining agent
; and continued to refuse to collectively bargain with the workers’ formally recognised union, Tekgıda-İş.
Following a four- and half-year legal challenge by Döhler to Tekgıda-İş’ collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
certification, Turkey’s highest courts confirmed Tekgıda-İş’ bargaining status and mandated collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
, but local management failed to show up for negotiations.
From January 2021 management escalated its attacks on workers’ rights. It pressured union members to resign their union membership and forcibly transferred workers to a subcontracting labour company, which removed them from the bargaining unit bargaining unit A group of workers within a particular company, establishment, industry or occupation that constitutes an appropriate unit for the purpose of collective bargaining.

See bargaining agent
, with the aim of undermining the union’s status as a collective bargaining agent bargaining agent A workers’ representative authorised to bargain collectively on behalf of workers in a bargaining unit.

See collective bargaining
.
An inspection by the Ministry of Labour found Döhler guilty of violating labour legislation, and the workers were given the deadline of 17 May to decide whether to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
.
Unfortunately, more than five years of intimidation and antiunion discrimination against workers at Döhler Gıda Sanayi A.Ş created such an environment of fear that workers could not go on strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
. Under Turkish law, this gave Döhler the possibility to challenge Tekgıda-İş’s collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
status, which the company opted to do.
Further to the 17 May events a worker and a shop steward shop steward A union worker who represents the members of a union in dealings with the employer. Often elected by union members who work in the same establishment. were dismissed.

Two hundred twelve protestors detained at May Day protest02-05-2021

Two hundred twelve demonstrators were detained in Istanbul for attempting to hold a May Day protest in defiance of the government’s strict coronavirus lockdown rules. In the lead-up to the historic day, police closed all roads leading in to Taksim Square, the site where 34 people were killed in a 1977 May Day protest. Due to security concerns, a ban on May Day demonstrations in Taksim has been in effect for several years.

According to Turkish media reports, members of the Limter-İş, İnşaat-İş, Dev Yapı-İş and Dev Turizm-İş unions, all part of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK), were also among those detained.

Union busting in the glass industry31-08-2020

Members of Kristal-Is at glassmaker company Düzce Cam have fought over four years for union recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. . We recall that in 2015 the Turkish Ministry of Labour issued an official document recognising Kristal-İş as the legitimate workers’ bargaining representative at Düzce Cam. However, instead of entering into proper dialogue with Kristal-Is, Düzce Cam management challenged the certificate issued by the Ministry of Labour and tried to undermine the union. The glassmaker has used various union-busting tactics, including dismissal of 80 union members and nominated union representatives.

Union busting in the metal industry31-08-2020

In the metal industry, many cases of union busting union busting Attempts by an employer to prevent the establishment of a trade union or remove an existing union, e.g. by firing union members, challenging unions in court, or by forming a yellow union. were registered in 2020. Employers resort to discriminatory and anti-union measures to avoid recognising unions. The most common tactic is to fire enough union members to bring the numbers below the recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. threshold. This is what happened to Birleşik Metal-İş, which organised the majority of workers at Özer Elektrik, an electrical appliances producer. Before they could apply to the Ministry, the company fired ten members and called security forces to disperse union members. Union leaders were taken into custody to frighten the workers away from union membership.
Similarly, in August 2020, shortly before Türk Metal filed its petition for recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. , cable manufacturer Ünal Kablo fired 31 union members, bringing the numbers below the threshold. Another union, Özçelik-İş, applied for collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
certification at Sampa Otomotiv, showing that it represented a majority of workers. The company responded by dismissing 71 union members.

Union busting in the leather industry28-07-2020

Employees at SF Trade Leather have been fighting for their right to establish a union, with the help of industry union Deriteks, since 2015. The company has vehemently deterred all attempts to do so by harassing and bullying workers and by sacking 14 workers and offering their jobs back on the condition that they cancel their union membership. In the summer of 2019, SF-unionised workers created a workplace committee. Four union members were immediately suspended for allegedly “not performing well” and were accused of bringing the factory “into disrepute and endangering other workers’ jobs”. The four women workers went on a symbolic strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
for over 100 days with the support of Deriteks, and they continue to fight for their jobs and their right to trade union membership. To this day, they are still calling for their reinstatement.

Furthermore, Safe Demo Plastik, the Turkish subsidiary of French auto supplier Safe Group, were accused of engaging in extensive union-busting tactics against members of Petrol-İş, the oil, chemical and rubbber workers’ union in Bursa. The union has been certified by the Labour Ministry; however, the company management challenged the Ministry’s certification in court, claiming that Petrol-İş did not have a sufficient majority to be a collective bargaining agent bargaining agent A workers’ representative authorised to bargain collectively on behalf of workers in a bargaining unit.

See collective bargaining
. Company management has furthermore fired six workers because of their union activities and has made attempts to encourage other employees to resign their union membership. In October 2019, union members staged a demonstration demanding recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. of their rights. Their demands include Safe Demo Plastik’s withdrawal of the court case and starting collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
negotiations, reinstatement of the fired union members and an end to coercion of workers to quit the union.

Union busting at Cargill01-04-2020

We recall that on 17 April 2018, 14 workers at Cargill’s starch plant in Bursa-Orhangazi were dismissed while trying to form a union. Two years later, they are still seeking their reinstatement. Turkish courts, despite company appeals, have determined that the workers were unfairly dismissed, and ordered their reinstatement. Cargill stubbornly refuses to reinstate them and contends that the workers were dismissed because the plant was forced to downsize. However, it appears that the plant has hired nine new permanent workers since December 2019 and has failed to offer these jobs first to those who were dismissed. Cargill has long resisted any attempts to establish workers’ representation; between 2012 and 2015, seven other workers were dismissed at the same factory for the same reason.

KESK Executive Board acquitted but anti-union repression continues04-03-2020

Unfounded criminal charges against the entire seven-member Executive Board of ITUC Turkish affiliate KESK were thrown out by the 4th High Criminal Court in Ankara on 3 March in a decision which confirms that calling for peace cannot be considered a crime under Turkish law.

In a January 2018 press statement, the KESK Board called for peace and warned about the impact of the Turkish army’s incursion into Afrin, Syria, in particular on Kurdish people, and criticised the diversion of vital resources away from urgent social and economic needs in Turkey itself.

In another case, scheduled for hearing on 9 March, Arzu Çerkezoglu, the president of ITUC-affiliated DISK trade union centre trade union centre A central organisation at the national, regional or district level consisting of affiliated trade unions. Often denotes a national federation or confederation. , is facing criminal charges with a possible prison term for her criticisms of Turkey’s ruling party AKP in June 2016. A number of other trade unionists are still facing charges.

“Turkey remains one of the most hostile countries for trade unionists in the world, and we call on the Erdogan government to cease the repression against unions and others in the country simply for exercising their legitimate rights, and to withdraw all the unfounded charges and sentences which have been handed down,” said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.

Fighting for the right to form a union in the leather sector07-02-2020

Employees at SF Trade Leather have been fighting for their right to organise in the country’s leather workers’ union, Deriteks Sendika, since 2015. The company initially responded by sacking 14 workers, offering their jobs back on the condition that they cancel their union membership. SF also demanded that the local court block the union from posting material on their action online and even filed a claim for damages.

Workers fought against the company and campaigned both locally and internationally for their colleagues’ reinstatement. Campaigns and protests in front of brands such as Mulberry, supported by British trade unions and campaign groups, led to victory, with the opening of negotiations between SF management and Deriteks. As a result, SF accepted the right to trade union membership within the workplace, and a protocol was signed stating that mutual dialogue would improve.

But in the summer of 2019, Deriteks heard from SF workers that harassment and bullying behaviour were still taking place, and a workplace organisation committee was formed by the unionised workers in order to tackle the issue.

Union members Ayse, Pinar, Nurcan and Sevcan were immediately suspended for allegedly “not performing well” and were accused of bringing the factory “into disrepute and endangering other workers’ jobs”. The four women have since been on a symbolic strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
for over 100 days with the support of Deriteks and continue to fight for their jobs and their right to trade union membership.

SF workers are continuing to call for the reinstatement of all sacked employees with immediate effect, for trade union recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. and the right to organise within the workplace, and for an end to bullying and harassment by SF management. Their struggle and determination to get their jobs back have become a symbol of resistance in the Gaziemir Zone of Izmir, which is home to many leather factories.

Turkish government confiscates labour union’s land20-01-2020

On 20 January 2020, a presidential decree was published that gave the union’s land to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The union also learned that the operation was being done as if in an emergency with high priority and haste.

The Genel-İş objected to this theft, which has not been officially acknowledged or even communicated to the union. In its statement, the labour organisation said the land will be taken over by the government and will be rented long-term to a private investor for touristic investment, which may mean building expensive hotels and restaurants. The statement called attention to the fact that other real estate owned by private parties around the union’s property had not been confiscated or nationalised. Only the workers’ land had been targeted. There are rumours that a golf club is also planned when the property is confiscated and privatised.

The union is planning on challenging the presidential decree in the high courts, and if it can’t get results that return the land back to the rightful owner (the union), they will apply to the Human Rights Court in the European Union.

French company engages in union busting tactics in Turkey25-10-2019

Safe Demo Plastik, the Turkish subsidiary of French auto supplier Safe Group, were accused of engaging in extensive union-busting tactics against members of Petrol-İş, the oil, chemical and rubbber workers’ union in the city of Bursa, which is the centre of the auto sector in Turkey. The union has been certified by the labour ministry of Turkey; however, the company’s local management challenged the ministry’s certification in court, claiming that Petrol-İş did not have a sufficient majority to be a collective bargaining agent bargaining agent A workers’ representative authorised to bargain collectively on behalf of workers in a bargaining unit.

See collective bargaining
. Furthermore, company management has fired six workers because of their union activities and made attempts to encourage other employees to resign their union membership.

Union members staged a demonstration demanding recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. of their rights. Their demands include Safe Demo Plastik’s withdrawal of the court case and starting collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
negotiations, reinstatement of the fired union members and an end to coercion of workers to quit the union.

Around the same time, the country manager of Safe Demo Plastik was sentenced to six months in prison by a magistrates’ court in Bursa over his violation of article 118 of Turkish Penal Code related to “preventing the use of trade union rights”.

Municipal workers unlawfully dismissed for union membership30-07-2019

Since May 2019, employees at the Municipality of Izmir Aliaga have reportedly been dismissed without legal cause for being members of their union. Three workers were initially dismissed in early 2019, with an additional 99 workers on 11 June. Workers began picketing picketing Demonstration or patrolling outside a workplace to publicise the existence of an industrial dispute or a strike, and to persuade other workers not to enter the establishment or discourage consumers from patronising the employer. Secondary picketing involves picketing of a neutral establishment with a view to putting indirect pressure on the target employer. the office on 20 May 2019 in protest of the dismissals and demanded reinstatement of the workers. As at 24 July 2019, 187

workers had been dismissed. Furthermore, there are reports that the mayor, newly elected in March 2019, had begun forcing staff to resign their union membership.

The international labour movement has accused the mayor of Aliaga of targeting public service employees who are union members as part of the broader attack on union rights by President Erdogan.

Workers convicted after 2016 strike13-11-2018

On 2 November 2018, 26 trade union members were criminally convicted for their part in a 2016 strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
at a Renault factory in Bursa. The workers were found guilty of “disobeying the law on meetings and demonstrations" after taking part in a protest in front of Renault’s Oyak plant in March 2016.
The 2016 protest took place following a series of dismissals during a union campaign by members of the Birleşik Metal workers’ union. Renault had repeatedly refused to allow union elections to take place, and had fired ten workers including two worker spokespersons. The demonstrators were demanding the right to organise and that dismissed workers be reinstated. The protest was violently dispersed by police.
Twenty-six workers were sentenced to a five-month prison sentence, suspended for five years. Two people who had posted messages in support of the workers’ protest on social media were sentenced to prison terms of three years and four months for incitement.

Forty workers arrested following strike at airport construction site05-10-2018

Over forty workers are facing trial following a mass arrest of striking construction workers at Istanbul’s new airport. Approximately 10,000 workers went on strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
on 14 September 2018 to protest poor health and safety conditions at the site. The protest was violently dispersed by police and military with teargas.
On 16 and 17 September, police conducted mass arrests and detained a number of workers when they arrived at the site to work. Approximately 401 workers were taken into custody by police, with the majority being released shortly after.
On 19 September, 43 of the workers appeared before court. Twenty-four were placed in pretrial detention and 19 were released on bail. After further arrests were carried out, a total of 31 workers were held in pretrial detention in Silivri prison. Among them was Özgür Karabulut, president of the union Dev Yapı-İş, who was arrested on 5 October for a speech he made to the workers during the 14 September protest. Three trade union representatives from the construction workers’ union were also arrested. They were accused of disrupting freedom to work, violating the law on demonstrations and public assemblies, damaging public property, resisting police, and possessing weapons.

Union president murdered13-06-2018

On 13 November 2018, Abdullah Karacan, general president of the Rubber and Chemical Workers’ Union, was shot and killed while visiting union members at a Goodyear factory in Adapazari. The union’s regional president, Mustafa Sipahi, and a workplace representative, Osman Bayraktar, were also reportedly injured in the shooting and hospitalised.

Workers dismissed after forming union at Cargill factory17-04-2018

Fourteen union activists have undertaken an extended strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
after being unfairly dismissed from their jobs on April 17, 2018 after attempting to organise a union at the company’s corn-milling facility in Bursa-Orhangazi. Shortly after the Tekgida-İş labour union, an affiliate of the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco, and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF), applied to represent workers at the Cargill plant in March 2018, fourteen workers involved with the organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. campaign were dismissed from their jobs.
According to the workers and their union representatives from the IUF, these dismissals are part of a pattern of anti-union practices at the Cargill facility. They follow the dismissals of seven other workers fired by management in 2012, 2014, and 2015 solely as a result of the employees’ attempts to unionise. The Turkish Supreme Court found that Cargill workers had been unfairly dismissed in each of these seven cases, and Cargill has been repeatedly informed of its violations by the IUF.

Union members dismissed from employment with French cosmetics brand03-04-2018

One hundred fifteen workers who were members of the Petrol-Is union have been dismissed from a factory after forming a union at the workplace. The workers were all employees of Kosan Kozmetik Pazarlama ve Ticaret AS, the Turkish subsidiary of French cosmetics company Yves Rocher, and were fired after their union, which they had been attempting to formalise for some time, finally received official recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. and registration on 3 April. The company told the workers that they had been fired for “joining an illegal demonstration” and have been blacklisted from finding jobs anywhere in the area.

Petrol-Is leadership stated that once their union had reached majority status within the factory and registered with the relevant authorities, they had attempted to build a constructive social dialogue social dialogue Discussion and co-operation between the social partners on matters of common interest, such as economic and social policy. Involves participation by the state where tripartism is practice. and approached the company with an offer to discuss collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
. The company rejected the offer and challenged the union certificate issued by the Ministry of Labour in court, using unfounded arguments and loopholes in the national legislation to hinder collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
. The company is refusing to reinstate the workers and is also refusing to enter into dialogue with Petrol-Is.

Massive dismissals, arrests and detentions of civil servants accused in coup charges20-02-2017

A total of at least 237 people were arrested and 669 were detained within the first ten days of February 2017 and 4,464 civil servants were dismissed in application of the new State of Emergency Decree No. 687 issued on 7 February 2017.

Of those 4,464 dismissed civil servants, 2,585 were teachers and public servants from the Ministry of Education; 417 were police officers from the Security General Directorate; 893 others were from the Gendarmerie General Command; 80 were from the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT); 48 were from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; 49 were from the Interior Ministry; and 16 were from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

During the whole month of February, acts of violence, arbitrary dismissal and detention took place in the country, aggravating the climate of tension and causing violence and uncertainty.

In particular:

• On 4 February, Turkish police used excessive force against members of the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK) who gathered in Malatya to protest against mass dismissals;
• On 10 February, at least 11 people, including professors, were detained after police used pressurised water and pepper spray to disperse a group of protesters against the new Decree No.687 at Ankara University;
• On 11 February, nine teachers - who had earlier been dismissed from their posts - were arrested.

Interference in protest action against the dismissal of 50,000 civil servants and arbitrary detentions31-12-2016

A series of unprecedented bans on rights to freedom of association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework
and restrictions of basic civil liberties were enforced following the 15 July coup attempt.

Decree Law No. 672, which was proclaimed on 1 September 2016, stipulated the dismissal of more than 50,000 civil servants. Naturally, press releases, marches and
protests were organised in response to such an arbitrary government decision. However, the police force interfered in peaceful demonstrations. For example:

• On 9 September, a press statement for a protest to be held in Diyarbakir was prevented from being read out and 70 members of the Confederation of Public Workers’ Unions (KESK) were detained and several of them were charged with violating Law 2911 on Demonstrations and Public Meetings;
• On 10 November, the Trade Union of the Employees of the Public Health and Social Services (SES) organised a collective action against the unjustified collective dismissals and the declared “state of emergency” (OHAL). The police intervened and many members, including the joint leader of SES and members of the central executive committee, were detained;
• On 14 December, a press release was organised for a protest by the Public Sector Energy Workers’ Trade Union in front of the Ministry of Energy. However, the gathering was prohibited by the police, and the president of ESM Ankara, Mr. Murat Çeşme, as well as other members (Ömer Faruk Kök, Özkan Boğan and Volkan Yaramiş), were taken into custody;
• On 21 December, KESK organised a march called “I want my job and my bread back” which was supposed to proceed from Istanbul to Ankara. On the day of the gathering, police surrounded the starting point of the march, namely Kadıköy Pier Square, and attacked participants with sticks, shields, pepper spray and plastic bullets.

Seven workers were dismissed after trying to form a union at Günsan Elektrik13-11-2016

The Birleşik Metal-İs trade union, present in multiple Schneider factories in Turkey, tried to organise a union branch at the Günsan Elektrik plant, part of the Schneider group.
Workers interested in unionising gathered and the union applied to the Turkish Ministry of Labour, in order to obtain the so-called Majority Certificate, which is required in order
to legally form a plant union branch.

However, when Günsan Elektrik’s management found out that employees were about to create a union, it decided to dismiss seven of the workers leading the organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. efforts.
The anti-union practices did not stop there. The plant management continued to create a climate of threat and fear through one-on-one conversations with workers to investigate whether they had joined a union or not, undermining the creation of the union at plant level.

Trade unionists restricted in their freedom of movement within the country and abroad20-10-2016

Mr. Deniz Akıl, the Ankara branch manager of the Public Sector Trade Union (BES), was banned from travelling outside the Ankara province and an order was issued to place electronic handcuffs on him. Furthermore, the secretary of the Women’s Confederation, Ms. Gülistan Atasoy, and the General Secretary of Education and Science Workers’ Union (EĞİTİM SEN), Mesut Fırat, are among the dismissed civil servants whose passports have been confiscated and thus they are banned from travelling abroad. For this reason, the executives of those unions are also unable to attend international trade union activities.

Union busting continues at Hugo Boss26-03-2016

Hugo Boss fired Meryem Bicakci in March 2016 because she supported the Teksif trade union organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. at her factory. It was another sacking in a long-running union-busting campaign by the luxury fashion label at its largest production facility in Izmir, Turkey. Management also increased pressure on two other leading union members, Fikri Mutlu and Murat Akgün. They had already seen other colleagues facing threats, intimidation and ultimately dismissal for their union activities.

Arrests and police intimidation following anti-union dismissals at Renault28-02-2016

The end of February 2016 saw violent clashes between the police and dismissed workers, peacefully demonstrating to get their jobs back and for the right to organise at car manufacturer Renault’s Turkish plant Oyak in the city of Bursa.
Workers had been due to hold trade union elections at the plant, following an agreement reached on 4 February between IndustriALL Global Union, its Turkish affiliate Birlesik Metal-Is, representing the overwhelming majority of workers at the Oyak plant, and Renault management. The agreement, which also included the composition and duties of a Social Dialogue social dialogue Discussion and co-operation between the social partners on matters of common interest, such as economic and social policy. Involves participation by the state where tripartism is practice. Committee (SDC), was the result of discussions on employee representation. The elections for the workers’ representatives were due to be held on 29 February.
Renault management cancelled the elections however just days before they were scheduled to take place, claiming that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security had declared them illegal. There is nothing in Turkish law that makes such elections illegal.
Management then called in workers one by one, including two spokespersons, and dismissed them immediately. The dismissals continued. Over 60 people lost their jobs, and a further 54 were asked to leave with severance packages.
When the protests began, local management asked the police to intervene. They intimidated workers at their homes and as they were coming on and off their shifts. On 2 March, police arrested 21 workers as the night shift ended.

Health workers’ arrested for their trade union activities in early 2016 15-01-2016

Four members of the SES health and social workers’ union employed at Kocaeli University as academic staff (Prof. Phd. Onur Hamzaoglu, Phd. Nilay Etiler, Phd. Ümit Biçer and Phd. Mehmet Cengiz Erçin) were arrested in their homes in the early morning of 15 January 2016. The reason for their arrest was their signing of a peace declaration by 1,128 academics. They were later released from police custody but investigations were ongoing at the time of writing.
Yasin Sezgin, a member of the SES Van Branch was arrested on 15 January 2016 for sharing news on social media. Social media was being checked by the security forces for comments that could be seen as insulting to the President.
Öner Öztürk a member of the SES Batman Branch was also arrested for his social media sharing. Three separate investigations were launched against him.
Mr. Recep Altındağ, representative of SES Ağrı Branch was arrested by the police from his house on 2 February 2016 for his visit to the peace tent at the foot of the Agrı Mountain. He was sent to the jail on 9 February 2016 on charges of being a member of an illegal organisation.

Trade unionist killed and others detained by Turkish security forces06-01-2016

Mehmet Kaplan, a sanitation worker employed by the Cizre Municipality and a member of DİSK/Genel-İş Union, and father of three, was shot in front of his house on 17 January 2016 by Turkish security forces deployed to surround towns in the south of the country. His family could not remove his body from the street because of the curfew imposed.

Four weeks earlier, Mr. Ramazan Uysal, also a member of DISK/Genel-İş was shot and lost his arm on 14 December 2015 while he was working on water valves for the Cizre Municipality. Three other members of DISK/Genel-İş were arrested for their trade union activities: Mr. Mazlum Özmen, union representative and a municipal police officer, Mr. Mesut Ayık, driver and Mr. Nedim Oruç, press officer.

If trade union leaders protest at such events, the authorities seek to silence them. Selahattin Barinc, a board member of the Sirnak branch of the Trade Union of Public Employees in Health and Social Services (SES), was arrested and taken into custody on 6 January 2016 for criticising the behaviour of the security forces. He was charged with spreading propaganda and his union was termed an illegal organisation.

Bomb attack on peace march by unions and CSOs31-10-2015

Around 100 people were killed and hundreds injured in two suicide bomb attacks on a rally called by trade unions and civil society organisations in Ankara on 10 October 2015.

A “Work, Peace and Democracy” rally and mass meeting had been organised by four organisations, DISK (Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions), KESK (Confederation of Public Employees), TMMOB (Union of Turkish Cambers of Engineers and Architects) and TTB (Union of Doctors of Turkey).

Two explosions, apparently from suicide bombers, took place in quick succession, as marchers sang and danced and held banners demanding an end to the violence between the Kurdish separatist PKK militants and the Turkish government. The protestors were also calling for the rights of the unemployed and the poor to be respected.

In the aftermath of the bombings, as the survivors rushed to the injured, the security forces blocked access to medical services for the victims, and used teargas to disperse the peaceful demonstration.

The authorities were equally heavy handed in dealing with a planned demonstration three days later to protest at the mass killing. KESK, DISK, TTB and TMMOB wanted to hold a march on 13 October to protest against the bombing and commemorate the victims of the massacre. Permission was refused however because the route went through “places citizens use frequently,” and because of “the sensibility of the current period.”

Police reportedly attacked people trying to reach the planned demonstration routes, and initially refused to allow people to board the Kadıköy-Eminönü ferry between the Asian and European side of the city on the morning of 13 October, on the grounds that the march was illegal. Plainclothes policemen were filmed violently pushing ferry users to the ground in an attempt to detain them. Elsewhere riot police and water cannon were used to deter people from joining the protest.

Protests against the massacre were also held in cities across the country. Police used teargas to attack a group of around 30 lawyers and another 150 people who came to support them in front of the courthouse in the Alanya district of Antalya.

Leather workers who wanted to join union faced intimidation and dismissal14-10-2015

The handbag manufacturer, SF Leather, which produces mainly for luxury handbag brand Mulberry, sacked fourteen workers for joining the Deriteks union in March 2015. Deriteks had just begun organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. workers at the factory, located in the Aegean Free Zone in Izmir.

SF Leather then began suing workers and Deriteks, claiming that its “commercial interests” had been damaged by the union’s organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. tactics and the workers’ protest rallies calling for the reinstatement of their sacked colleagues. The company also got a local court to impound a banner appealing to Mulberry to respect workers’ rights, and to order a news blackout of the union protests on Turkish websites. In the meantime it continued to exert pressure and intimidation over workers not to join the union.

Further to union pressure, including the support of the Industriall global union, SF Leather later announced it would reinstate the dismissed workers – but only on condition that they withdraw their trade union membership. When Deriteks refused this condition, SF Leather launched a smear campaign against the union with fabricated allegations.

Agreement was finally reached between the union and management on 14 October. SF Leather would not reinstate the dismissed workers but it did agree to pay them compensation. It also agreed to allow the union to organise at the factory and both sides agreed to drop their court cases (the union had also brought a court case into the rights violations at the factory).

Disciplinary action and judicial proceedings against thousands 12-10-2015

In the wake of the authorities’ crackdown on the demonstrations and strikes held on 12 and 13 October in protest at the 10 October Ankara terrorist bombing, in addition to the arrests listed, many trade unionists faced disciplinary procedures and judicial proceedings. Similarly, following a day-long strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
on 29 December 2015 organised by the trade union confederations DISK and KESK, together with the Turkish Doctors’ Union (TTB) and the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB), calling for an end to government-led military operations in south-eastern Anatolia against Kurdish militants, what the KESK describes as a witch hunt began against the participants. KESK estimates that at least ten thousand union members have become the subject of investigations.

Earlier in the year, members of the SES union faced disciplinary proceedings, including suspensions and demands that they be dismissed, for attending a press conference condemning the Suruç Massacre in Ağrı, in July 2015, when a student suicide bomber killed 34 students.

The KESK also reported on hundreds of cases of trade unionists suspended, sent into internal exile or forced to retire as a result of the trade union membership or involvement in trade union activities.

Authorities tear down union calendars and prevent distribution of posters10-10-2015

The General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA) prevented the Energy, Industry and Mining public sector union ESM from displaying posters condemning the 10 October massacre in Ankara and from handing out of leaflets about it.

Elsewhere both posters and calendars showing photographs of those lost in the Suruç and Ankara massacres were torn by some directors and executives and some members of pro-government trade unions. Pro-government trade union members tore down posters at the Mufti’s office in Mardin İpek Yolu for example. The 2016 Calendar published and distributed by the health workers’ union SES depicting those lost in the 10 October Ankara Massacre was torn off the walls of the Bakırköy Hospital on the orders of the chief physician.
Medeni Alpkaya, former chairperson of the Diyarbakır Branch of the TUM BEL-SEN municipal workers’ union, was detained for distributing leaflets about the press conference held to draw attention to the civilian deaths in Sur, Diyarbakır, on 24 December 2015. He was released pending trial.

Police raid on union offices21-09-2015

The Kesk-affiliated health and social service workers’ union SES reported that their branch office in Diyarbakir in the Kurdish south east of Turkey had been raided by the police, the door smashed in and staff and members terrorised on 21 September 2015. The police claimed to be looking for terrorists.

Mass dismissals of workers who joined food workers union14-09-2015

International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF), a leading supplier of specialty ingredients to the global processed food industry, dismissed 30 workers between July and September 2015 for exercising their right to join a union. The Tobacco, Drink, Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Tekgida-Is) in Turkey organised workers at the Gebze factory and the Labour Ministry recognised the union as the bargaining unit bargaining unit A group of workers within a particular company, establishment, industry or occupation that constitutes an appropriate unit for the purpose of collective bargaining.

See bargaining agent
on 18 June 2015. Workers formed a union in response to poor working conditions and serious health and safety concerns. IFF challenged this decision at the local labour court and began to dismiss union members.

Following the dismissal of a prominent union supporter, Tekgida-Is organised a protest action in front of the factory gate and issued a press statement on 7 September calling on IFF to respect union rights and stop pressuring workers to resign from their union.

When two active union members were dismissed the following day, workers demonstrated in front of the factory gate. Management increased the pressure on workers to resign from the union and suspended production for three days from 11 to 13 September. When workers returned to work on 14 September they learned that 17 more workers had been dismissed; ten more workers were dismissed later in September.

Police disrupt public sector workers march03-08-2015

The police disrupted a march on 3 August 2015 by the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK) members who were on their way to the Labour and Social Security Ministry. Collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
had begun on public servants’ wages, but the union wanted the process to be suspended until the interim government had been replaced by a permanent government. Police used teargas and shields to stop the march, but did eventually allow it to continue after it was agreed the demonstrators would remain on the pavement.

Enpay sacks 65 for joining union 31-07-2015

The Turkish company Enpay, which manufactures electric power transformers and transformer components for multinationals ABB, Alstöm, Schneider and Siemens sacked 65 workers in July 2015 after they started to join Birlesik Metal-Is, the United Metalworkers’ Union.

Industriall Global Union twice urged Enpay management to stop anti-union aggression and reinstate dismissed workers. However, despite a reply from the company stating that Enpay was acting in compliance with national law and international labour norms, the sackings continued.

When a large proportion of the workforce joining Birlesik and elected their own worker representatives, Enpay dismissed 11 union members on 13 July, a further 12 on 20 July for joining demonstrations calling for reinstatement, and now a total of 65. All of the elected worker representatives were sacked.

Workers’ protests against management violations have included work stoppages, pickets, and sit-in demonstrations. The company applied to the public prosecutor claiming that the work stoppage was illegal, but the claim was rejected and opening a court case was refused.

On Sunday 26 July, police arrested workers and the local president of Birlesik Metal-Is in Kocaeli for simply assembling peacefully in front of the factory. They were released in the evening of the same day.

Members of the Education and Science Workers’ Union arrested24-07-2015

The Confederation of Public Sector Workers’ Unions, KESK, reported that at least seven members of the Education and Science Workers’ Trade Union, Eğitim Sen, were arrested during 2015, in addition to those caught up in the mass arrests following the May Day celebrations and the protests that followed the October Anakara bombing.
Mr. Ali ALPER, Mr. Emin Kılıç and Mr. Ö. Faruk Gürbüz of the Eğitim Sen Adıyaman branch were arrested on 24 July. Mr. Ali KAYA the director of the Eğitim Sen guest house was arrested on 25 July after a police raid of the union’s headquarters.
Mr. Yaşar ARSLAN, head representative of Eğitim Sen Lice Branch was arrested on 29 July, while another member, from Siirt, Mr. Mehmet AZGER was arrested on 30 July.
Kadri Baysal, head representative of Eğitim Sen Nusaybin Branch and Şevin KARSLI a teacher member were arrested on 30 December 2015 for participating in the programme on 12 December for children who were not able to continue their education because of curfews in Nusaybin Fırat Distinct.

Mass dismissals after car workers strike24-06-2015

Turkey’s automotive giant Tofaş – a joint venture owned by Koc Holdings and FIAT, laid off 142 workers on 24 June 2015 following strikes that crippled the industry in May. Thousands of workers at the Renault, Tofaş and Ford Otosan plants – along with many other spare part factories located in north western Bursa and Sakarya provinces – went on strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
on 15 May, to protest against low wages, wage differences among workers employed in the same sector and poor working conditions.

The strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
lasted nearly two weeks before agreement was reached over a pay rise, and in many cases management guarantees that no-one would be sacked.

Intimidation soon set in however. The strikers found themselves the subject of investigation by the Bursa Public Prosecutor’s Office for supposedly “aiding and abetting a terrorist organisation”. The Bursa Counterterrorism Unit subsequently summoned the workers, who were questioned as to why they walked off the job and whether or not they were intending to form a new trade union.

The workers had been trying to set up a new union, of their own choosing, frustrated at the failure of the management-favoured union to negotiate effectively on their behalf. All of the workers had resigned from the Metal Workers Trade Union of Turkey (Türk Metal) during the protests. Those who retained their jobs in the factories have reportedly been obliged to reregister with Türk Metal.

The dismissals continued and a total of 250 workers, some with hearing and speaking disabilities, lost their jobs. Nor did the promised pay rise materialise. There was no ambiguity as to the cause of dismissal. The workers learned that they had been fired via a text message that said “Your employment contract has been terminated because of your protests.”

Tear gas and arrests for May Day protesters31-05-2015

Turkish police used water cannon and tear gas on hundreds of protesters on May Day, after the demonstrators attempted to march on Taksim Square in central Istanbul.

The Square has symbolic meaning for the Turkish left. Over 30 people were killed in 1977 when suspected nationalists opened fire on May Day participants, and it had become the traditional site for Labour Day celebrations. The Governor of Istanbul announced however that Taksim Square would be closed on 1 May, citing security reasons.

Istanbul police decided to deploy around 10,000 officers to enforce the ban, cancelling all leave and bringing in officers from outside the city. It also planned to have water cannon at the ready. All roads leading to the square were closed, as were public transport links surrounding the area.

The May Day Organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. Committee, consisting of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DİSK), the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK), the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (TMMOB) and the Turkish Medical Association (TTB), protested at the decision to block access to the square and urged the authorities to lift the ban, to no avail. They called on union members and the public to go ahead with May Day rallies in the city centre.

The rallies turned into a protest, leading to the use of water cannon and tear gas. The Contemporary Lawyers’ Association’s (ÇHD) reported that 479 people were detained and 20 people were arrested and charged, some for violating the law on meetings and demonstrations and others for “making propaganda for a terror organisation”. Lawyers who later went to the Court House to assist those arrested were beaten by riot police, and 16 of them were injured.

More workers arrested for their trade union activities19-05-2015

İbrahim TUNA of the United Transport Workers’ Trade Union (BTS) was arrested on 19 May 2015, further to the police operation on May Day 2015 in İzmir. He was released on 20 May by the prosecutor’s office.
On 3 August 2015 Mr. Sinan Ok, a representative of the office workers’ union (BES), was arrested when police attacked a march organised by KESK about collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
negotiations in front of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security in Ankara. Mr. İlhan Yiğit, the KESK Secretary for Training, Organisation and Media was also arrested.

Members of the health workers’ union arrested in 2015 01-05-2015

The Confederation of Public Sector Workers’ Unions, KESK, reported that many members of the Health Employees Trade Union were arrested between May 2015 and April 2016.

On 1 May 2015, members of the SES health and social service workers’ union were arrested for holding a press conference after defying orders not to do so. Mr. Kadri Abalak, executive member of SES Şırnak Silopi, was detained for his statements made under duress. He alleged that he was subjected to violence while in police custody.
Twenty eight people including Mr. Ruken Kılınç and Mr. Reşat Doğan co-chairpersons of SES, as well as other members of trade unions, political parties and human rights associations were arrested by the police for their participation in Urfa protest to condemn the Ankara Massacre on 10 October 2015 and for allegedly insulting the President of the Republic.

Twenty six members and board members of the SES Muğla Branch including Mr. Huseyin Sarıefe were taken into police custody on 11 October 2015 in Muğla for taking part in protests against the 10 October Ankara massacre. Court proceedings were started against them.
Mr. Hüseyin Çalı, Financial Secretary of SES Adana Branch was also arrested and judicial proceedings were launched against him.

Ms. Sevgül Tekin was arrested for reading a statement at a press conference organised by SES in Silvan.

Mr. Mesut Aslan, a member of the SES Gaziantep Branch was detained for sharing news on social media.

Abdullah Köçeroğlu , a member of the SES Nusaybin branch and an employee of the Nusaybin State Hospital was sent to jail for helping the injured.

Union members unfairly dismissed08-04-2015

On 8 April 2015 the management of TÜVTÜRK, a consortium which operates over 200 vehicle inspection centres and employs 3,000 workers nationwide dismissed 51 members of the TÜMTİS union. The grounds for dismissal were supposedly that their performance levels had ‘decreased’ or that they ‘had refused overtime’, although there was little to substantiate these claims. The real explanation appeared to be that they were all active members of the union that had gained recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. as the representative union at the two new plants where the workers were dismissed TEM Kocaeli and Osmaniye, and that wanted to negotiate a collective agreement. Management brought in workers from other plants to replace the dismissed workers, and began intimidating other workers to persuade them to leave the union.

Hugo Boss factory continues attacks on textile union31-03-2015

At the beginning of March 2015 the Turkish Union of Textile, Knitting and Clothing Industry Workers TEKSIF reported that management at the Hugo Boss factory in Izmir was continuing to sack union members and supporters. The attacks on the union began shortly after it started to organise workers three years earlier.

Long drawn-out court processes proved 20 trade union supporters sacked between 2011 and 2014 had been illegally dismissed. A further eight cases were still pending in court in early 2015. After the High Court of Appeals confirmed that those workers were dismissed by HUGO BOSS because of their union membership and ordered their reinstatement, however, management opted to pay them extra compensation instead.

The sackings didn’t stop. Management dismissed three more key union supporters in February 2015. At no stage throughout the process did the Izmir management of HUGO BOSS accept offers from TEKSIF to resolve the issues through social dialogue social dialogue Discussion and co-operation between the social partners on matters of common interest, such as economic and social policy. Involves participation by the state where tripartism is practice. , and there was no intervention from international management either. When Industriall, the global union to which TEKSIF is affiliated, contacted the HUGO BOSS CEO in August 2014 to request his intervention to ensure an end to the violations and the start of constructive social dialogue social dialogue Discussion and co-operation between the social partners on matters of common interest, such as economic and social policy. Involves participation by the state where tripartism is practice. at the plant, the response was to threaten legal action and to deny all responsibility.

Dairy company dumps manure to intimidate picketing unionists 09-02-2015

In response to organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. efforts by the union Tekgida-Iş, the dairy company Sütaş started to target workers who joined unions for dismissal. So far 83 workers have been dismissed after joining the union in two factories in Bursa-Karacabey and Istanbul-Aksaray. Many workers are harassed and compelled to resign their union membership by threats and calls to their families. Other workers have been dismissed for posting comments critical of the company on social media. Management forces workers to give their passwords for government institutions so that the company can establish who is a union member.

Dismissed workers together with their families have been picketing picketing Demonstration or patrolling outside a workplace to publicise the existence of an industrial dispute or a strike, and to persuade other workers not to enter the establishment or discourage consumers from patronising the employer. Secondary picketing involves picketing of a neutral establishment with a view to putting indirect pressure on the target employer. at the factory gate since April 2014. Management surrounded the area with trucks to prevent the picketers from being seen. When the dismissed workers refused to disperse, management poured 13 tons of liquid manure on the sit-in area. While this was intended to end the picket and disperse the protesters, it attracted flies onto the dairy plant and compromised food safety. Eventually management had to clean up the area and disinfect the surrounding villages.

The owner of the factory, Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association Chairman Muharrem Yilmaz, stood down from this position after news broke of the manure scandal at the Sütaş factory.

Deva sacks workers for joining a union09-02-2015

Public authorities instructed the company Deva to recognise Petrol-Is and begin collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
on 14 October 2014. Instead, the company sacked three more workers for supporting the union. Already in 2010 Deva used a range of union busting union busting Attempts by an employer to prevent the establishment of a trade union or remove an existing union, e.g. by firing union members, challenging unions in court, or by forming a yellow union. tactics to dismantle a 40-year industrial relations industrial relations The individual and collective relations and dealings between workers and employers at the workplace, as well as the institutional interaction between unions, employers and also the government.

See social dialogue
system at plants in the Çerkezköy, Kartepe and the Topkapı area of Istanbul. Deva Holdings sacked 74 employees at that stage in 2010 when they refused to replace their collective agreement with individual contracts. Deva then sacked eight more workers on 22 July 2014 for exercising their right to join Petrol-Is. A total of 24 sackings had occurred in this latest union organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. process.

Despite the mass sackings and other illegal anti-union pressure, Deva employees managed to organise the required majority to then file for and receive the official “Certificate of Competence” from the Ministry of Labour. Yet, Deva management announced it would never recognise and bargain with any union.

Below are the details regarding these three latest workers to be sacked for supporting a union.

1) Ramazan Atasever: He had one-and-a-half-year seniority. He was told that the reason for his dismissal was his physiological problems.

2) Şenol Aygün: He had eleven years seniority. The apparent reason for his dismissal was that he does not possess a sufficient level of academic qualifications for the technological processes required in his job. However, with eleven years’ service in his position, it is a non-credible excuse for sacking someone for supporting a union.

3) Hasan Yiğit: He had seven years seniority. He was told that he was dismissed because of his earlier records inside the company. This once again sent a message to the workforce that they will be sacked for no valid reason if they support the union.

Anti-union discrimination30-06-2014

In April 2014, the company TÜVTÜRK dismissed eight union members at various vehicle inspection stations across Turkey for their organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. campaign. Unions were able to sign collective agreements at certain plants of the company after successful organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. campaigns despite the fact that the company continued to discriminate against trade unions.
In June 2014, members of the union Birlesik Metal-Is protested against union busting union busting Attempts by an employer to prevent the establishment of a trade union or remove an existing union, e.g. by firing union members, challenging unions in court, or by forming a yellow union. by advertising company M&T Reklam by holding several pickets. The company unlawfully dismissed 45 workers in total at its plants in Gebze and Duzce after the union conducted a successful organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. campaign at both plants. Even though the union has been certified for collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
by the Ministry of Labour, management chose to victimise workers instead of engaging in good faith bargaining.
In March 2014, the Turkish subsidiary of Crown Holdings, Crown Bevcan, dismissed four trade union leaders with false and groundless charges, as they had led union organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. at the company plant located in Izmit. Along with consistent union busting union busting Attempts by an employer to prevent the establishment of a trade union or remove an existing union, e.g. by firing union members, challenging unions in court, or by forming a yellow union. and de-recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. in Turkey, Crown dismissed four workers – Haluk Efe, Mehmet Akbay, Mustafa Bayram and Ahmet Bal – who are members of the local union local union A local branch of a higher-level trade union such as a national union. organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. committee of the union Birlesik-Is. In the beginning of March the employer summoned the workers demanding them to write an explanatory note, called a defence document, to the accusations put forward by the management. The dismissed union leaders were accused of encouraging other workers not to work overtime along with disturbing the peace of the working environment, even though there recently was no overtime work announced inside the workplace. All four workers were kept outside the factory while management required that they take leave. After the announced period of leave came to an end, the management arbitrarily dismissed the workers.

Government interferes in strike20-06-2014

In June 2014, the government issued a decree to suspend a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
in the glass industry for 60 days on the grounds that it posed a risk to “public health and national security”. The union Kristal-Is launched a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
at ten factories of the company Sisecam on 20 June 2014. The decree is based on article 63 of the legislative act no. 6356, the Law on Trade Unions and Collective Agreements. The Turkish government uses the regressive law on a routine basis to stifle workers from exercising their right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
. This was the ninth major strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
stifled in this way by the government since the year 2000. The government has never indicated a reason why any of the suspended glassworker strikes would be harmful to public health and national security.

Police violence01-05-2014

In January 2014, Istanbul police used tear gas against a group of people trying to hold a sit-in protest in front of Çağlayan Court in support of 56 members of the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK) standing trial on charges of being members of an illegal organisation.
In April 2014, police stormed the Greif plant in Istanbul Hadimkoy and arrested 91 workers who held a sit-in. After negotiations with management over higher wages and the use of sub-contractors at the company failed, workers resorted to the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
action.
In April 2014, the Governor of Istanbul stated that unions would not be permitted to hold May Day celebrations at Taksim Square. Unions were told to hold the celebrations in Yenikapi Square instead. On 21 April 2014, police detained several trade unionists in Taksim square when union members were about to issue a press statement regarding May Day celebrations. Police used tear gas against the activists in order to prevent them from reading out the statement. On May Day 2014, about 142 demonstrators were detained and several people were injured when police attacked unions and political activists. About 40,000 police officers were deployed to cut all roads connecting to Taksim square.

Refusal to recognise unions for bargaining16-08-2013

The textile companies DESA and the ISMACO refuse to recognise unions in their companies and to enter in a dialogue with trade union members. In January 2013, IndustriALL Global Union and Deri-Is lodged a series of demands to DESA which were dismissed.

Refusal to bargain in good faith07-08-2013

Petrol-Is continues to have disputes with the pharmaceutical company Deva which refuses to negotiate a new collective agreement with the union in 2012. In April 2012, the labour court ordered the reinstatement of 66 workers who had been dismissed for their union membership in late 2010.

Anti-union discrimination07-08-2013

Petrol-ls organised a considerable number of workers at TransAtlantic Petroleum Ltd company and Viking Services BS company, a company operating in the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe in the fields of petroleum and gas exploration and production. As soon as management became aware of the organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. efforts 24 trade unionists were dismissed and six trade unionists were transferred to oilfields in Northern Iraq. Moreover, the company uses intimidation, assaults and threats to deter trade unionists. Petrol-ls has brought the case to court and stages pickets outside the plant.

The company Pakpen dismissed eleven Petrol-Is members when it learned about the organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. campaign of the union. Petrol-Is has filed a case at the labour court and is negotiating with management.

The company Plaskar , based in Bursa, dismissed 45 workers organised by Petrol-Is in May 2012 and threatened workers with further dismissals.

Local management of the Demo Plastik company dismissed ten trade unionists when it heard of the union organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. in 2012.

8 trade unionists were released05-08-2013

On 5 August 2013, 8 trade unionists were released. As of 15 August 2013, 66 executives and members of KESK, including 40 members of the teachers’ union Egitim Sen, are still languishing in jail in connection with various court cases.

Interference in May Day celebrations31-07-2013

The public prosecutor initiated an investigation into the involvement of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK) Chairman Kani Beko and General Secretary Arzu Çerkezoğlu in the 2013 May Day celebrations. The Governor of Istanbul prohibited May Day demonstrations on Taksim Square arguing a construction site would put demonstrators in danger. Police used violence to stop hundreds of protesters trying to reach Taksim Square.

Turkish Airline undermines strike09-07-2013

An Istanbul Labour Court ordered Turkish Airlines to stop hiring workers to replace workers who were on strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
. The airline had hired 700 workers and had made arrangements with its SunExpress joint venture to replace 1,600 striking cabin crew workers. Hava-Is went on strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
on 15 May 2013.

The state holds 48 per cent of the shares in Turkish Airlines. The Minister of Finance, Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communications Minister and the Minister of Labour explicitly threatened Turkish Airlines workers with dismissal in their public statements.

Arobus dismissed 19 workers27-06-2013

The company Arobus dismissed 19 workers in response to their trade union activities as members of the union Birleşik. When the union achieved the representativity requirements for bargaining, the company summoned workers at its Bursa plant to the management’s office and offered the choice between dismissal and relinquishing their Birleşik membership in favour of another union. Arobus also called a public notary to the company to pressure workers to change their union membership.

Anti-union discrimination31-03-2013

In March 2013, the courts found that four DHL workers had been dismissed because of their trade union activities. DHL has also been accused of actively supporting unions which are more favourable to management in order to undermine existing independent unions.

By January 2013, the Tekgida-Is union had recruited a significant number of workers at the East Balt company, the key supplier to McDonald’s restaurants, as trade union members. When Tekgida-Is applied to the Labour Ministry for a bargaining certificate in January 2013, management started to dismiss union members. Only after the union threatened to place pickets in front of McDonald’s restaurants did management reinstate the dismissed trade union members.

Four trade union members were dismissed from their positions at ISMACO because of their trade union membership. Management said that it does not want union representation. The Deri-Is union has been picketing picketing Demonstration or patrolling outside a workplace to publicise the existence of an industrial dispute or a strike, and to persuade other workers not to enter the establishment or discourage consumers from patronising the employer. Secondary picketing involves picketing of a neutral establishment with a view to putting indirect pressure on the target employer. against this decision since December 2012.

Interference in trade union premises25-03-2013

On 25 March 2013, the head offices of Liman-Is, the National Port and Land Stevedores Union of Turkey and of Genel-Is were raided by security forces. Serious damage was done to the building gateway, entrance door and accounting office door.

Anti-union discrimination31-12-2012

The company Teknik Plastik Sealed Air dismissed five trade unionists after Petrol-ls launched an organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. campaign at the plant in Istanbul. Other workers were threatened and intimidated by management. The dismissed workers were reinstated in December 2012.

Outsourcing undermining workers’ and trade union rights31-12-2011

The steady rise of outsourcing outsourcing See contracting-out in Turkey is undermining workers’ rights. The Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Unions (DİSK) estimates that around 3 million workers in Turkey are employed by outsourcing outsourcing See contracting-out companies, often in inhumane conditions. Work accidents and occupational diseases are on the increase because safety measures are ignored by subcontracting firms. Pay can also be a problem as even though the real employer may pay salaries on time, the sub-contracting company may first use the money for their own investments and delay passing the money on to the workers.

It is difficult for outsourced workers to improve their conditions because they are prevented from joining unions. If they try to organise, they lose their jobs. Even if they succeed, the contracting company often launches a new tender, hiring a new outsourcing outsourcing See contracting-out company. Outsourcing outsourcing See contracting-out is primarily used in the public sector for services like cleaning, transportation and health, although it is on the increase in the private sector. Even big factories that use mass production are changing their system and prefer to hire outsourced workers without unions.

Worryingly, the Turkish government is preparing to amend legislation in a way that will increase the number of outsourced workers, including by facilitating the hiring of workers on a seasonal basis.

EU Commission report deplores limited progress in the area of social dialogue31-12-2011

In its October report on accession, the European Commission stated that “There has been limited progress in the area of social dialogue social dialogue Discussion and co-operation between the social partners on matters of common interest, such as economic and social policy. Involves participation by the state where tripartism is practice. ". The ban on the contractual personnel of state economic enterprises from establishing trade unions or engaging in trade union activities has been lifted. However, the ban on these personnel engaging in any kind of strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
action remains in place. A Prime Ministerial circular allows the participation of civil servants’ trade unions on the boards dealing with the social rights of public employees and disciplinary issues. Constitutional amendments regarding workers’ rights have not been put into effect as the necessary changes in the relevant trade union legislation have not been made.

Social partners social partners Unions and employers or their representative organisations. have failed to agree on key issues such as the right to organise at workplace level and thresholds for collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
. The Economic and Social Council did not meet during the reporting period. The coverage of workers by collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
agreements has not increased.

Employers’ anti-union tactics31-12-2011

It is common practice for Turkish employers to file a complaint alleging that a trade union organisation does not have the required majority for bargaining purposes. This is a common method to block trade union recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. . Furthermore, during legal proceedings, union members are often dismissed. In addition, most court cases take years to resolve, which prevent trade unions from functioning freely and efficiently.

The TEKEL workers’ case - workers forced to accept inferior working conditions31-12-2010

The Turkish government’s decision to privatise TEKEL (former state tobacco and alcohol monopoly) warehouses led to the dismissal of 12,000 workers. These workers, along with their families and supporters, started demonstrating on 15 December 2009. The protest began in front of the headquarters of Prime Minister Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), but the police cleared the area on 16 December and forced the demonstrators to a nearby park. The following day, police put up barricades around the park and then used water hoses and tear gas against the demonstrators. Police violence escalated and clubs were used against the demonstrators, many of whom had to be hospitalised. Mustafa Türkel, President of Tekgida-Is, which represents these workers and is affiliated to TURK-Is, and General Secretary of Türk-Is, were arrested, but then released later that evening. The police violence caused an outcry in the Turkish Parliament, but the government continued to refuse to accede to the workers’ demand that they be given alternative employment with full employee benefits, as the law on privatisation provides.

In 2010, after 78 days of protesting, the workers ceased their action only to return to the streets of Ankara on 1 April for a one-day protest against working under Article 4/C of Law No. 657 (on working conditions of public employees), which restricts them to lower wages and fewer employee rights. Workers coming from different provinces were not allowed to enter the city in groups and convene at their previously scheduled meeting point in front of TURK-Is headquarters. Police and workers subsequently clashed in different parts of the city. Workers from KESK, who came to the city center in a show of support for the Tekel workers, similarly faced police using pepper gas.

The union took the Article 4/C case to court, as the measure in itself contravened Turkish law. The government, however, financially forced workers to resume work under Article 4/C after it blocked the union’s solidarity fund account in September. As the court case was postponed time and again, most workers, in need of an income, saw no other option but to resume working.

Dismissed unionists reinstated by court13-12-2010

After two years of struggle, the Sinter Metal workers dismissed on 22 December 2008 won their reinstatement cases on 13 December 2010. The legal cases were launched by their union Birlesik Metal-Is, a DISK affiliate, immediately after their dismissal in December 2008. The workers had been dismissed under the pretext of poor performance and of economic crises, but the court declared that the reason behind the dismissals was the workers’ trade union membership. The court ordered that the workers be reinstated.

More workers forced to change union affiliation31-03-2010

In March, in Eleşkirt hospital in Ağrı, workers affiliated to KESK-affiliated Health and Social Service Workers’ Union (SES) were visited by a delegation of Saglık-Sen, a union which is friendly to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). They were threatened and forced to resign from SES, and promised better contracts if they would join Saglik-Sen, which around 30 of them eventually did.

Bargaining obstructed30-11-2009
Severe limitations to the right to strike30-11-2009

On 21 April, in the Yapi-Yol Sen (an affiliate of national public sector union KESK) case, the European Court of Human Rights unanimously ruled that the general ban, issued by the Turkish government, preventing public-sector employees from taking part in a one-day national strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
in support of the right to a collective-bargaining agreement, was a violation of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights on freedom of assembly and association.

Judicial harassment of trade unions30-11-2009

2009 saw a dramatic increase of trials aimed at curtailing trade unions, a trend which started earlier but seems to be steadily on the rise. There is a basic pattern, with unionists being treated roughly, or even mistreated, following their arrest, after which the authorities invoke some legal clause to keep the cases “confidential”, so the defence lawyers have no access to their clients’ files, sometimes for more than one month. The accusations are generally related to some form of “terrorist activity”, and the trials are usually marked by a lack of compliance with both national and European legal requirements.

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