The trade UNION situation in Turkey (J.Monks)
The trade UNION situation in Turkey
Preparation for EU Membership
The position of the ETUC was defined at the Congress in
Seville in its Strategy and Action Plan, as follows:
The ETUC favours the accession of Turkey to the EU
provided it meets, in reality and not only on paper, the
requirements of membership and the provisions of the
EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. A transformation of
Turkish society with full rights and freedoms should be
sought and completed during the challenging process of
negotiations.
As far as Social and Employment Policy is concerned, the
European Commission and the Turkish government have been
engaged in discussions to open Chapter 19 on Social Policy
and Employment.
The EU has defined two benchmarks:
1. To provide the Commission with an action plan for
the gradual transposition, implementation and
enforcement throughout the country of the acquis (as
necessary) in each area covered by this chapter for the
benefit of the entire workforce. The action plan should
in particular focus on undeclared workers and include an
economic and social analysis of the substantial problem
of undeclared work in Turkey. The plan should also
include: a) a timetable of measures envisaged in each
area covered by this chapter; b) the identification of
financial and human resources allocated and of efforts
needed to reinforce them; c) the identification of the
institutions and social partners involved; d) the
identification of the institutions to be set up for the
gradual implementation and enforcement of the acquis,
including their mandate and status. For each of the
above steps, a gender mainstreaming approach needs
to be adopted, with particular attention to be given to
women’s participation in the labour market
2. To ensure that full trade UNION rights are respected
in line with EU standards and the relevant ILO
conventions, in particular as regards the right to
organise, the right to strike and the right to bargain
collectively. To this effect, Turkey needs to eliminate
existing restrictions and to adopt fully revised legislation
in this area for both private and public sectors.
The ETUC has been monitoring the situation with its four
Turkish affiliates and has been in touch with the Commission
on the issues.
As to the first benchmark, an Action Plan has been sent to
the European Commission. As to the second, proposals to
reform two laws (Trade UNIONs Act R11; Act No. 2821; Collective
Labour Agreement, Strike and Lock-out Act R11; Act No. 2822)
have been circulating within the Grand National Assembly of
Turkey, but no vote has been taken. Another proposal for the
public sector (Trade UNION Law for the Public Servants – Law
No. 4688) has not yet been circulated.
It had been expected that Chapter 19 would have been
opened during the Czech Presidency. However on 4 June 2009
Chief EU negotiator Egemen Bağıs was reported as saying that
labour UNION reforms were put on hold following talks with
representatives of employers’ and workers’ organizations.
Attacks against KESK
The offices of KESK were recently raided by the Turkish
Gendarmerie. KESK property was confiscated, and a number
of KESK trade UNIONists were taken into police custody,
including Abdurrahman Dasdemir, the former General
Secretary, and two prominent women leaders, Songül
Morsümbül, a member of the KESK Executive Committee, and
Gülçin Isbert, a member of the Executive Committee of its
teachers’ UNION.
The ETUC wrote to Commissioners Rehn and Spidla on 29
May 2009, protesting against these intimidatory acts which
make it difficult for KESK to go about its normal trade UNION
activity and calling on the Commission to remain very vigilant
in its negotiations on Turkish membership of the EU, not only
as regards Chapter 19 on Social Policy and Employment, but
also as regards Chapter 23 on Judiciary and Fundamental
Rights.
Civil Society Dialogue Project Bringing together workers from
Turkey and the EU through a shared culture of work
The aim of this project is to reinforce contacts and mutual
exchange of experience between the trade UNIONs of Turkey
and trade UNIONs of EU Member States, and through them,
their members, with a view to ensuring better knowledge and
understanding of one another and an awareness of the
opportunities and challenges of future enlargement. The
project has had to deal with a series of different challenges,
but it is now moving into a more dynamic phase.
A survey is in process. It aims to identify and address
existing impressions and prejudices that Turkish and EU
workers may have of each other, and a questionnaire has
been sent to 8,000 Turkish trade UNIONists and 8,000 EU trade
UNIONists. A report will be ready by the end of 2009.
The dates for the 12 Exchange and Mutual Understanding
Seminars with EU confederations and the 9 Sectoral Training
Seminars with European Industry Federations have now been
fixed. They will primarily be carried out during the Autumn of
2009. The first educational brochures are in preparation. The
contract has been extended by 6 months. The Final
Conference is scheduled for some time in March 2010.