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10 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 37/2001
The Turkish government today decreed a two-month suspension of a major strike in the country's glass industry.
The grounds for the ban? Apparently, the loss of glass output is a threat to "national security"!
Turkey's national security seems to be a very fragile thing. Last year, it was "endangered" by a strike in the tyre industry, which was also promptly banned by decree.
In fact, the Turkish government is simply using once again a catch-all clause that enables it to outlaw strikes at will.
Today's "suspension" is under Article 33 of Turkey's Law on Collective Agreements, Strikes And Lock-Outs. This allows the government to suspend any strike or lock-out for sixty days if it is deemed to endanger "public health or national security".
Moreover, "postponement" of a strike under this legislation usually amounts in practice to an indefinite ban, because Article 34 of the same law empowers the labour ministry to impose arbitration at the end of the sixty days, unless the parties have either come to an agreement or voluntarily sought arbitration.
Turkey's official arbitrators rarely decide in a union's favour.
The Turkish glass, cement and earth workers' union Kristal-İş will appeal to the Supreme Court against today's decree, but in the meantime, the law obliges the union to suspend the strike.
"We think that there is no connection between the glass strike and national security," said Kristal-İş President Mustafa Bağçeci today. "The hidden side of the decree is the employers' demands. It is the glass employers who have got this strike postponed."
At the global level, Kristal-İş is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
"To claim that a strike in the glass industry threatens national security is, quite frankly, absurd," writes ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs in a letter sent today to Turkey's Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit. "Your action flouts the most basic internationally recognised trade union rights. Clearly, current Turkish labour law would be wholly incompatible with membership of the European Union."
90 percent of Turkish glass production has been halted by the strike, which was launched on 24 May at major glass production companies within Turkey's Şişe-Cam group. Some 6,000 workers are involved.
The main issues are pay and subcontracting. The union has been negotiating a new collective agreement with Şişe-Cam since last December, but bargaining broke down over the employers' refusal to consider wage increases in line with inflation. Şişe-Cam insists that real pay will have to go down. The employers say that the International Monetary Fund programme for Turkey calls for cuts in workers' purchasing power.
Subcontracting of labour is on the increase in the Turkish glass industry, and Kristal-İş is firmly opposed to this trend. Kristal-İş also wants an assurance that all Şişe-Cam workers who want to join the union will be allowed to do so. Managers in some Şişe-Cam subsidiaries have been denying workers the right to organise, Kristal-İş says.
The grounds for the ban? Apparently, the loss of glass output is a threat to "national security"!
Turkey's national security seems to be a very fragile thing. Last year, it was "endangered" by a strike in the tyre industry, which was also promptly banned by decree.
In fact, the Turkish government is simply using once again a catch-all clause that enables it to outlaw strikes at will.
Today's "suspension" is under Article 33 of Turkey's Law on Collective Agreements, Strikes And Lock-Outs. This allows the government to suspend any strike or lock-out for sixty days if it is deemed to endanger "public health or national security".
Moreover, "postponement" of a strike under this legislation usually amounts in practice to an indefinite ban, because Article 34 of the same law empowers the labour ministry to impose arbitration at the end of the sixty days, unless the parties have either come to an agreement or voluntarily sought arbitration.
Turkey's official arbitrators rarely decide in a union's favour.
The Turkish glass, cement and earth workers' union Kristal-İş will appeal to the Supreme Court against today's decree, but in the meantime, the law obliges the union to suspend the strike.
"We think that there is no connection between the glass strike and national security," said Kristal-İş President Mustafa Bağçeci today. "The hidden side of the decree is the employers' demands. It is the glass employers who have got this strike postponed."
At the global level, Kristal-İş is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
"To claim that a strike in the glass industry threatens national security is, quite frankly, absurd," writes ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs in a letter sent today to Turkey's Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit. "Your action flouts the most basic internationally recognised trade union rights. Clearly, current Turkish labour law would be wholly incompatible with membership of the European Union."
90 percent of Turkish glass production has been halted by the strike, which was launched on 24 May at major glass production companies within Turkey's Şişe-Cam group. Some 6,000 workers are involved.
The main issues are pay and subcontracting. The union has been negotiating a new collective agreement with Şişe-Cam since last December, but bargaining broke down over the employers' refusal to consider wage increases in line with inflation. Şişe-Cam insists that real pay will have to go down. The employers say that the International Monetary Fund programme for Turkey calls for cuts in workers' purchasing power.
Subcontracting of labour is on the increase in the Turkish glass industry, and Kristal-İş is firmly opposed to this trend. Kristal-İş also wants an assurance that all Şişe-Cam workers who want to join the union will be allowed to do so. Managers in some Şişe-Cam subsidiaries have been denying workers the right to organise, Kristal-İş says.