Abstract
In this chapter, where social dialogue at the workplace level in Turkey is analysed from the social partners’ perspective, different approach patterns amongst the social partners are addressed. There have been many different assessments related to social dialogue at the workplace level; it has been argued that the subject cannot be addressed independently from the political, economic and legal system of Turkey, and that social relations have a serious impact on social dialogue. In general, several assessments have been made on the effects of the system on social dialogue in the workplace, and several analyses have been conducted on the operability of specific mechanisms with several functions.
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Notes
- 1.
For making collective labour agreements, the September 12th Act (1980 Military Coup) has become an obstacle to several trade unions and led to the creation of a monopoly by existing trade unions. Therefore, the Tüm Tekstil-İş Trade Union President Bayram Erdoğan says, ‘The trade unions who do not want any change in the laws of September 12th, want this to maintain their own monopoly’. In his statement, Bayram Erdoğan also says, ‘Some trade unionist who have condemned the working life and the labourers to the laws of September 12th Coup, who do not want the order they have established to change, are resisting to the change today’. Alp (2009), www.hurriyet.com.tr/ekonomi/13156182.asp. Accessed: 09.12.2009.
- 2.
To understand the development and trade union struggle in French worker movements, Emile Zola’s novel Germinal and its movie adaptation are a good reference. The novel is based on the fierce and real strikes of miners who did not take prisoners in northern France in the 1860s.
- 3.
The total number of members in the workers trade unions is approximately 1,700,000.
- 4.
This man was active before 12 September 1980 (Topçu 2017).
- 5.
The statement made by the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Faruk Çelik, is important. He said that the number of workers in Turkey is 5,034,900, whereas the number of workers who are members of trade unions is 3,012,800. The MoLSS Minister has said, ‘These are the figures registered in the Ministry. But after the amendments in Trade Unions and Collective Bargaining, Strike and Lockout Laws, the real scene will come out and “reveal the true colours of the matter” at the beginning of 2009’. In his speech, he also said, ‘I wonder in person as the Minister that despite the fact that there is a condition of notary now, how real the number of registered, existing members of our trade unions obtained according to the statistical data of the Ministry is. Let's not deceive ourselves, friends. This scene has to be clear. The situation we are in, the circumstances of our organization need to be transparently revealed. If getting organized is indispensable for democracy and we take this very seriously, then its infrastructure must be very strong. This regulation brings about a healthy structure. And the true level of the discussions such as trade unions enrolled fake members, they are enrolling fake members’ mentioned since ever will come to light with the removal of 10% threshold and the notary condition’ (http://www.tbmm.gov.tr/develop/owa/haber_portal.aciklama?p1=53603. 14.12.2009).
- 6.
As the Turkish interpretation of ‘rank and file’ concept, ‘governed members of an organization’ has been used, and the notion ‘rank and file trade union member’ has been translated as an ordinary trade union member.
- 7.
On this issue, see: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rank_and_file. 28.01.2010).
- 8.
For example, at the Ankara-Etlik District Hospital, which is affiliated to the Ministry of Health, almost all of the polyclinic secretaries are employed as sub-contract employees. The Turkish Government enacted a new law about subcontracting for workers in the public institutions in 2018. Most of the workers statute was changed and they are making a contract directly with the public institutions.
- 9.
In Turkey, a generic legal regulation or participation model that allows workers to participate in management does not exist. According to our labour act, participation in management only exists in occupational health and safety boards and paid annual leave boards. Moreover, in collective labour agreements, certain forms of participation have been developed (Süzek 2006: 104).
- 10.
In addition to those mentioned in Koray and Çelik’s (2007) comprehensive study of social dialogue in Turkey and the European Union, within one of the sub-projects that was realized under the framework of grants distributed within the scope of the project ‘Strengthening Social Dialogue for Innovation and Change in Turkey’, a works council has been set up to provide information and consultation functions between the Hak-İş Confederation and Konya Metropolitan Municipality. Also, the agreement established the relevant works council, which was signed on September 20, 2007 in Ankara between the Hak-İş Leader Salim Uslu and Konya Metropolitan Mayor Tahir Akyürek.
- 11.
The period that Mr. Mehmet Dönen was the Minister of Industry and Trade.
- 12.
According to Article 34 of the Labour Law No. 2821 on Trade Unions, the trade union (whose authority has been finalized to make a collective labour agreement) needs to report the identities of representatives within 15 days after assign a trade union representative from the members working at that workplace: (i) 1 representative if the number of the workers in the workplace is ˂; at most 2 representatives if the number of the workers is between 51 and 100; at most 3 representatives if the number is between 100 and 500; at most 4 representatives if the number is between 500 and 1000; at most 6 representatives if the number is between 100 and 2000; and at most 8 representatives if the number is >2000. From this group of representatives, one of them may be appointed as a chief representative. This provision is mentioned in Article 27 of the Labour Law No. 6356 on Trade Unions and Collective Labour Agreement.
- 13.
On this issue, see: Uçkan (2007): footnote 13 in p. 109.
- 14.
TEKEL workers’ movement can be shown as an example of actions taken by workers in recent times, i.e. the workers took action at the point where they lost their working conditions by being subjected the Labour Law No. 4857 and, accordingly, the rights of the trade union and collective labour agreements.
- 15.
While ‘governed members of an organization’ is used as the Turkish equivalent of the concept of ‘Rank and file’,’rank and file trade union member’ is translated as ‘the ordinary trade union member’.
- 16.
On this subject, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rank_and_file. Accessed: 28.01.2010.
- 17.
Germinal by Émile Zola shows the trade union movement in the West, which included hard and bloody struggles. ‘Germinal is often regarded as one of Émile Zola's best works and one of the best novels of French literature. This novel is based on the fierce and real strike story of miners who take no prisoners in northern France in the 1860s. Germinal’s original and translations have been published more than a hundred countries. In addition, the work has inspired five cinema adaptations and two television productions’. http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germinal_(roman). Accessed: 23.04.2010.
- 18.
While employees with the status of workers are organized under the confederations of TÜRK-İŞ, DİSK, HAK-İŞ, TÜM-İŞ, BİRLİK-İŞ and independent unions are not affiliated to these confederations, those working under the civil servant status were organized under the confederations of MEMUR-SEN, TÜRKİYE KAMU-SEN, KESK, BİRLEŞİK KAMU-İŞ, HAK-SEN, BASK, ÇALIŞAN-SEN, TÜM MEMUR-SEN, ANADOLU-SEN confederations. For both workers and civil servants, this disorganized structure is one of the main obstacles to the strengthening of the Turkish labour movement.
- 19.
The collective labour contract signed by BASİSEN with İş Bank was extended to the Finansbank, Fortis and Denizbank. However, this decision was later revoked.
- 20.
The notary condition has not been in effect after the new Trade Union and Collective Labour Agrrement Act No.: 6356 (2012). With this provision, the process of making collective labour agreement has now been facilitated by reducing workplace threshold to 1% and the branch of activity threshold to 40%.
- 21.
For the opinions of the employers in this regard, see the book of former TİSK President: Baydur (2008).
- 22.
It was mentioned during the interview with a senior manager who presented his opinion on behalf of Türk-İş.
- 23.
It was mentioned in an interview with a manager of a workers’ confederation, as well as during the interviews conducted with social partners.
- 24.
In this regard, Prof. Dr. Ömer Dinçer has an important explanation. In Labour Inspection Board In-Service Training Program, Minister Dinçer said, “We must change our approach to employers. Employers are one of our most important partners in this country that provide employment which is another function of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. And we certainly have to guide them, we need to support them so they can be more effective in their businesses”. http://www.csgb.gov.tr/article.php?category_id=2&page=2&article_id=1047. Accessed: 09.03.2010.
- 25.
’Given the definition of ‘Small-Scale Manufacturing Industries and Medium-Sized Manufacturing Industries’ in the KOSGEB Establishment Law, it is seen that 245,263 enterprises are covered by this definition with a share of 99.32%. In the manufacturing industry, the total number of enterprises with 1–9 employees is 220,030, which represents 89.12% of the total. According to the KOSGEB definition, when enterprises with 1–49 employees are examined in Small Scale Manufacturing Industry Enterprises, it is seen that the number of enterprises is 240,355 with a share of 97.35%. When the 50–150 initiatives are analysed within this definition, it is seen that the number of enterprises is 3,399 and they have a share of 1.37%’ (KOSGEB 2005: 6–7).
- 26.
This incident was mentioned during an interview with a Trade Union Expert.
- 27.
Interest associations amongst those who occupy different bureaucratic positions may be both at the same institution and between different institutions. A person who did another person’s ‘job’ at a certain time receives a request from that person. These forms of relations in the bureaucracy are called ‘cronyism’ in the colloquial language or can be described by the phrase ‘you scratch my back and I will scratch yours’. Today, in both public and private sectors, many relations within Turkish labour relations are operated in this manner, and based on the nature of the situation these relationship forms can take precedence over laws and regulations. This indicates a necessary relation for showing how inter-personal or inter-institutional dialogue is ensured in the working life.
- 28.
I have made this assessment based on my experience of bureaucracy between 2004 and 2017.
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Cam, E. (2019). Opinions of Social Partners: Turkey, Land of Differences in Labour Relations. In: Social Dialogue and Democracy in the Workplace. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8482-9_6
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