NEWS FROM ICTUR TURKEY
(International Union Rights, n. 2 1996)
The National Committee of ICTUR in Turkey has adopted its constitution. The constitution stipulates a General Meeting to be held annually during which ICTUR activities and priorities for the next year will be decided. The constitution is based largely on the ICTUR constitution. The first General Meeting is expected to be held in May. Also. ICTUR Turkey has intervened in two cases of gross violation of trade union rights.
ICTUR Turkey will be distributing the IUR journal with translations of key articles. The aim is in the long-run to translate the whole journal as well. ICTUR Turkey welcomes any suggestions and comments from more experienced members of ICTUR concerning its efforts to firmly establish its Committee.
CONTACT: (fax) +90 216 418 59 98, (phone) +90 216 348 61 30
To be a worker in Turkey...
The average monthly wage in industrial jobs in Turkey is 420 dollars (EU average 2439). The minimum wage is 95 dollars monthly. A worker in Turkey works 46 hours a week on the average. Union density is just 11.6 per cent.
There are on the average 549 work accidents in Turkey per day. Each day, five workers become ill with an occupational disease, such as severe bronchitis from mining or painting. Of those involved in an accident per day, seven die and 14 are crippled for life. The number of people involved in an accident or becoming ill with an occupational disease between 1990 and 1994 was 633,189. During the same period 7,679 people have died.
These statistics are underestimations, because many of the workers are not officially 'insured', hence not part of the social security system. The working conditions of those are usually worse so one may expect statistics for that portion of the working class to be even worse.
To be a public employee in Turkey
Public employees have been struggling for years to make the government recognise their basic human right Ñ the right to unionise. Many international agreements which Turkey is a party to allow the public employees to unionise. However, the Turkish government has repeatedly tried to deny this right.
Nevertheless the public employees have formed their own unions over the years. They have in many cases resisted repeated attempts to close them down. Tum Haber-Sen, union of employees of the PIT, was closed down illegally by the government. Egitim-sen, teachers' union, was under similar threats but after massive demonstrations and international pressure (including ICTUR) the government backed down. Confederation of Public Employees Unions, KESK was formed in order to unite the various public employee unions. On 18th of April, KESK members went on strike. The government repeatedly warned the strike was illegal and all participants would be prosecuted. Nonetheless, hundreds of thousands of public employees participated in the strike. The trains stopped, classes were cancelled, only the emergency rooms in hospitals worked, taxes were not collected, phone lines were not repaired, work was slowed in areas such as the bridge-passage toll collection...
The Public Employees continue their struggle for recognition.
Multinationals in Turkey
Many multinational companies operate in Turkey. Time and time again they defy many basic universal rights of their employees. They do it in a manner they would never be allowed in their own country.
One of the recent examples is the case of Siemens. Its affiliate in Turkey, Turk Siemens AS, did not allow its workers to choose the union they wanted to belong to. The workers had signed up with Birlesik Metal-Is, a metal workers' union affiliated to the DISK confederation. They were forced to resign. In response, 490 workers staged a wildcat strike. Their struggle continues.
Another example was the subject of an ICTUR intervention. US Air Force ground services contractor, Vinnel Brown and Root Mehmet Durmus, branch president of Diyarbakur Turk Harb-is defence workers' union was fired for 'misconduct', due to his involvement in trade union activities. His firing was meant as a warning to the workers. He was fired just before the collective bargaining negotiations began. The shallow laws in Turkey do not protect the trade unionist from such arbitrary action by the employers. The union and the workers in response are going to strike at the end of the legal period of the negotiations. They are not striking over the question of wages. They want to stop the assault against their union, and have Mr Durmus reinstated.
May Day rally in Turkey - three dead
May day has long been a symbol of working class struggle worldwide. In Turkey, it especially occupies a passionate place in the memory of all workers. In 1977 37 demonstrators died, after 'unidentified' gunmen fired at the crowd of 500,000. After the 1980 military coup, it was outlawed for a decade. After determined efforts to celebrate May Day, the government allowed legal rallies though not recognising the date as a holiday. During the era it was outlawed one person was killed by police fire and many injured or paralysed after attempting to go to the place where 37 people had died to commemorate them and fight for recognition of May Day.
This year the rally was once again marked by police violence resulting in three deaths. The police opened fire on the crowd after arguments about the banners they carried. Two people died right there ,being shot in the head and chest. At the end of the rally, one more person died during the clashes that continued. Even though the police claim to have fired in the air all the persons who have died were shot in the head and chest. Many more are in hospital with bullet wounds in the upper body some in critical condition. Some newspapers have asked whether the demonstrators were flying, if the police did fire to the air as claimed.
All three killed by the police were workers. One was a prison guard member of Tum-Yargi-Sen, union of public employees in the judicial services. Ankara Democracy Platform, a platform of trade unions in Ankara, tried to have a press conference on May 3rd, and was again attacked by the police. The union claims their member was killed in the ambulance, by a police of ficer who broke the glass of the ambulance and fired inside. They were harassed and dispersed by the police. The held their press conference in the premises of another union, Turk Harb is Ankara Branch.
May Day 1996 has added three more workers to the ranks of workers worldwide who have died struggling for their rights and justice since Haymarket.
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