Turkish shipyard workers strike at Yonca

TURKEY: The IMF has written a letter of protest to the shipbuilding company Yonca, in Tuzla/Istanbul, strongly urging the employer to respect the right of Limter-Is, the trade union organising workers at the company, to bargaining collectively for its members. Last Friday, April 26, following Yonca's refusal for several years to recognise the union's right to organise and collectively bargain for its members, the union decided to take strike action. Limter-Is, an affiliate of the DISK trade union confederation, organises workers in the private sector of Turkey's shipbuilding industry, mainly in Tuzla/Istanbul, the country's biggest industrial zone for shipbuilding, where trade union rights are widely violated. In 1999, after the union had received authorisation from the Ministry of Labour for bargaining rights at Yonca, the company nevertheless refused to bargain with the union and even dismissed 8 workers. Yonca applied to the courts to annul the Labour Ministry's decision, but in September 2001, the courts upheld the union's right to bargain for its members. Instead of accepting the court's decision, the company fired 30 workers who were requesting a collective agreement. The union reports that an additional organising struggle developed in 2000 with another privately-owned shipbuilding company in Tuzla, Turkter, where the employer dismissed 140 workers because they wanted collective representation. The two main shipbuilding zones in Turkey - Tuzla and Aliaga (in Izmir) - are also a center for the informal economy. Although the Tuzla shipyards employ about 10,000 workers, only 10 per cent of these workers are registered. The others have no social protection. Also, health and safety conditions in the shipyards are extremely hazardous and the employers are well organised in their attempts to keep the trade unions out. In solidarity support with the Limter-Is struggle, the IMF would ask its affiliates to send protest messages to the employer: Mr. Sakir Yilmaztürk
Yonca Teknik Yatirim A.S.
Tersaneler Cad. G. 50 Sokak No. 3
Tuzla/Istanbul
Turkey
Fax: (90-216) 392-9969 and to the Union of Shipbuilding Industries: Gemi Insaat Sanayicileri Birligi
Tersaneler Cad. No. 24
Tuzla/Istanbul
Turkey
Fax: (90-216) 446-0684 with copies to the IMF, and to the unions: DISK
E-mail: [email protected]
Fax: (90-212) 234-2075 Limter-Is
Fax: (90-216) 446-7546