Geneva: Global Union Federations call on Turkish Labour Minister to respect trade union rights

The Representatives of ITF, PSI, IUF, ICEM, UNI, CGU and union confederations of Turkey met with the Turkish Labour Minister in Geneva on June 12.

Union representatives raised a number of concerns. These included pending trade union and collective labour relations legal changes, restrictions on the right to sign collective agreements, the recent blanket ban on strikes in aviation sector, violations of ILO Conventions, imprisoned trade unionists, intimidating criminal charges against 111 union leaders arising from the Tekel action, limitations on public sector workers right to strike, alarming levels of occupational accidents and deaths, restrictive conditions on union organizing and the use of dismissal as a union busting tool.

Minister Çelik responded that the nature and extent of blanket ban on strikes in the aviation sector will be reconsidered by the government.  He claimed that all the issues in relation to the pending draft law will be clear once it is enacted.