13 August, 2010International human rights lawyer joins IMF and EMF trial monitor to observe hearing. Judge adjourns proceedings to October 22 but also orders police summons for management witnesses. Union response: "Justice Delayed is Justice Denied"
TURKEY: On August 4, the 3rd Labour Court of Uskudar adjourned until October 22 the unfair dismissal hearings of 11 Sinter Metal workers among the 394 workers victimized with retaliatory dismissal for joining IMF affiliate, Birleşik Metal-İş Sendikası.
On August 6 the same judge adjourned another set of Sinter Metal cases to October 22 as well and it appears the remainder of the unfair dismissal hearing-which continue until August 27-will also be delayed for the eighth time.
A group of Sinter Metal workers, a human rights barrister of international status and representative of IMF and EMF observed the trial as monitors and gave brief press statements to the mainstream media outlets covering the hearing.
The reinstatement cases of the hundreds of dismissed Sinter Metal workers-who have been asking for "work, bread and trade union rights" with some urgency-have been delayed for over one year and eight months. While one worker commented that at least the ruling was delayed two months, and not four or five months (as in the delay from November 2009 to March 2010 reported here and again from March 2010 to August 2010 reported here), this reality contrasts deeply the Trade Unions Act 2821 article 30 which provides for courts to apply "fast-hearing procedure and conclude the case within two months" to unjust termination cases.
Birleşik Metal-İş Sendikası General Secretary Selçuk Göktaş expressed the anguish of the Sinter Metal workers, saying "Justice Delayed is Justice Denied" while DISK confederation president Süleyman Çelebi said in front of the courthouse, "this is a travesty of justice."
The official grounds for the postponement, as with previous delays, is that four witnesses called upon by the company to testify had once again failed to appear in court. The judge's decision to delay a ruling is ostensibly to give the company yet another chance to secure attendance of their witnesses, who include the daughter of company owner Olgum Tambag. However, this time, the judge has ordered a police summons of these witnesses for the October 22 trials.
In these latest August trials, the lawyer representing the Sinter Metal workers renewed her argument of February 2009 that hearing testimony from management witnesses is not so crucial to the outcome of the case because the company submitted a "defendant statement" to the court at the beginning of the legal process claiming, "Sinter Metal gave the work to on-site subcontractors in order to increase profit." Because Turkish labor law 4857 article 2 prohibits companies from outsourcing main production to subcontractors, the judge who receives such a defense statement from Sinter Metal should have, at the outset, rejected hearing the company's witnesses since the labour outsourcing itself and the company's argument is based on illegal activity breaching the law.
Upon unionization of the workers, Sinter Metal had terminated 37 workers on December 18-19, 2008. When the remaining 378 production workers continued to ask for their rights, Sinter Metal terminated the 9 subcontracting companies-which were all co-owned by Olgum Tambag and his family members-and informed the 341 affected workers of their termination through a bullhorn at the factory gates on December 22, 2008. Among the remaining 37 directly-employed production workers in the plant, Sinter Metal discovered more trade union members and subsequently dismissed 16 more workers as well on January 29, 2009.
Anti-union discrimination, especially unfair dismissal, in the absence of speedy remedy is one of the most serious violations of freedom of association as it jeopardizes the very existence of unions; yet, the case of the Sinter Metal workers is not isolated and retaliatory dismissal is the single-most common way exercise of workers' rights is undermined in Turkey.
Turkey is a member of the United Nations and the International Labour Organization, and is slated to become chair of the Council of Europe in November 2010, and hopes to join the European Union. Turkey has ratified ILO conventions 87 and 98 and the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular, articles 6 (right to a fair hearing) and 11 (right to association). Yet, workers in Turkey struggle to realize their rights.
Legal observer Sarah Hemingway-a practicing member of the independent bar of England and Wales and human rights barrister of international status-and a representative of the IMF and EMF observed the trial. The trial monitoring report will be submitted to the relevant international bodies.