The government also failed on union rights
During the AKP government, Turkey was among the countries with the worst record on workers’ rights, and this was reflected in long working hours, low wages and poor working conditions, as well as trade union rights.
If we look at data from the Ministry of Labor, 85 percent of registered workers in Turkey work without a union, while hundreds of unions cannot sign collective agreements due to the branch threshold.
After the AKP came to power in January 2003, of 4,686,618 registered workers, 2,717,326 were members of a union. In other words, the union membership rate was 58 percent. In the intervening 20 years, this rate has fallen dramatically to 15 percent.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF EMPLOYEES ARE NOT UNIONS
Of the 2 million 858 thousand 424 public officials throughout Turkey, 2 million 130 thousand 644 are members of unions. In other words, approximately 75 percent of civil servants working in Turkey, that is, 3 out of 4 civil servants, are unionized.
However, when it comes to the private sector, this proportion varies greatly. According to data published by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in July, of 16,413,359 workers in Turkey, only 2,421,940 are members of a union.
This means that 85 percent of registered workers in the country are not unionized. These figures are believed to be even worse when added to those of unregistered and uninsured workers.
168 THE UNION HAS NO AUTHORITY
In Turkey there are a total of 227 unions in 20 business lines. However, the number of unions that can exceed the 1 percent sector threshold is only 59. 168 unions operating in the country are below the sector threshold.
Considering these data, only workers affiliated with these 59 unions have the right to enter into collective agreements. While the number of workers affiliated with unions who have exceeded the threshold is 2,319,483, 102,457 workers do not have the right to enter into a collective bargaining agreement despite being unionized.
On the other hand, with other procedures of the Labor Law, the number of workers covered by collective agreements is decreasing even more. According to a report published by DİSK-AR last year, the rate of workers covered by collective agreements is around 10 percent.
20 STRIKES WERE POSTPONED IN 20 YEARS
Furthermore, during the AKP period, a total of 20 strikes were banned on national security grounds. Finally, with the blocking of the strike in the Kocaeli metallurgical sector in January 2023, 20 strikes were prevented in 20 years.
With this ban, approximately 195,000 workers were deprived of their right to strike in the last 20 years under the AKP government. While most strike bans during the AKP period occurred in the metal sector, the union whose strikes were banned the most was United Metal Work.
‘UNION RIGHTS ARE BEING EXPELLED’
The International Trade Union Confederation, which represents unions in 167 countries, listed the 10 worst countries for employees in 2023: Bangladesh, Belarus, Ecuador, Egypt, Eswatini, Guatemala, Myanmar, Tunisia, the Philippines and Turkey.
The report also states that strikes were suppressed in Turkey, trade unionists were arrested and union activities were prevented, and that workers in several companies were dismissed due to union activities.
Likewise, Turkey was one of the countries that deprived employees of the right to form or join a union. Türkiye; Burundi, along with Haiti, India and the United Arab Emirates, were among the countries that deprived workers of union representation.
Turkey was also among the countries, along with countries such as Myanmar, Hong Kong, the Dominican Republic and India, that targeted prominent union leaders and imposed criminal sanctions.