International Campaign for Trade UNION Reform
We prepared several documents about the working conditions and situation of trade UNIONs in our country before. We had stated that our working conditions were far behind the logic of decent work and life and mentioned about the pressures on trade UNION rights and freedoms.
Although Turkey was earnestly criticized and warned by ILO committees in International Labour Conferences, she has not made necessary legal changes in compliance with ILO Conventions No. 87 and 98. Because of the legal prohibitions and regulations, millions of workers lack of using their fundamental rights. Thousands of workers are subject to various pressures such us being dismissed or being arrested. Since 2002, despite its repeated commitments during, the ruling party AKP has not materialized reform on trade UNION law yet. Our industrial relations are still being shaped by the laws enforced during the military coup of 1980.
Standing on these reasons, we kindly call you to support our large scale campaign. In this framework, we invite you to participate our petition campaign which is the first stage of our main campaign. By means of our campaign, we would like you to send the draft letter to the Prime Minister of Turkey, Labour and Social Security Minister and the Embassies of Turkey in your country. You can find the draft letter and the contact details. If you want, you can change the letter or add something to the letter. Moreover, we would like you to send us the copy of your letter.
We profoundly believe that the letters that you will send will be very effective and we believe that your efforts will create an international pressure on government of Turkey and force the government to put the reform on trade UNION law which should be in compliance with ILO Conventions and Revised European Social Charter on the agenda. We strongly believe that an improved trade UNION right of working class in Turkey which is the part of European trade UNION movement is also essential for the protection of workers’ rights in Europe.
We know that International Trade UNION Movement which did not leave us alone during the days of our imprisonment because of military coup of 1980, will support us in our fight against trade UNION laws of military coup and anti democratic implementations of the ruling party AKP.
We thank you for your solidarity in advance.
DRAFT LETTER
Dear ….,
It is apparently known by the international community that the trade UNION laws regulating working conditions were made during the military coup of 1980 and there has been no any important and integrated change since then.
Republic of Turkey shall revise trade UNIONs law in compliance with the ILO conventions in order to provide decent life and work for its citizenships.
Furthermore, you know very well that the trade UNIONs laws should be amended in compliance with the ILO conventions and Revised European Social Charter in order to proceed the process of EU membership.
We want to remind you that although your country has already signed the ILO conventions No. 87 and 98 that form the backbone of the perspective of ‘decent work’, the domestic laws in your country have not been amended in compliance with these conventions yet.
By these reasons, as the ILO Committee on Application of the Standards and various EU institution clearly emphasize, the government of Republic of Turkey should make new trade UNION law in line with the requirements of ILO conventions immediately .
In order to materialize this,
- all thresholds both at sectoral level and company level should be removed.
the prohibitions on strike should be removed. - the notary clause should be removed.
- the fact of being dismissed on the reason of trade UNION membership should be prohibited.
Our organization will follow the demands of trade UNIONs of Turkey and Europe closely and will inform the concerning institutions in our country about the developments.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister,
Fax:09003124170476
Ömer Dinçer, Minister of Labour and Social Security,
Fax: 00903122127230
