Gov’t engages rivals to push through bills
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Hurriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 14, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - In a move to draft a labor union law compatible with International Labor Organization criteria, Turkey’s labor minister has sought support from the opposition parties to pass two proposals, one about the labor union law and the other about May Day.
Labor and Social Security Minister Faruk Çelik has met with deputies from the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, and the Democratic Society Party, or DTP. He announced that the proposals would be merged this week or next week and discussed in Parliament. MHP parliamentary group leader Mehmet Şandır said his party saw labor as a whole, arguing that separating laborers from public servants would create problems. Şandır said civil servants should be provided with the right to collective bargaining and strike action. The CHP’s Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said his party has not yet examined Çelik’s proposals and added that the CHP wanted a strong labor union life in accordance with ILO and European Union criteria.
"We asked Çelik to meet with unions and reach a compromise. The minister said negotiations were under way and would be ongoing. I hope a compromise will be reached with the labor unions," said Kılıçdaroğlu. The DTP’s Fatma Kurtulan said her party was looking into the proposal. She asked the minister to open Istanbul’s Taksim Square to laborers on May Day and to declare Nevruz, a spring feast, a holiday.
Çelik said the labor union law, in force since the Sept. 12 military coup, would be changed and said another draft law on declaring May 1 a holiday would also be discussed in Parliament.
"We would like to pass the two laws together. They are considerably important legislations. Here we don’t expect 100 percent compromise. There is no such chance because the parties concerned are very different but we are exerting efforts to reach a compromise on a large scale," he said.
"We asked Çelik to meet with unions and reach a compromise. The minister said negotiations were under way and would be ongoing. I hope a compromise will be reached with the labor unions," said Kılıçdaroğlu. The DTP’s Fatma Kurtulan said her party was looking into the proposal. She asked the minister to open Istanbul’s Taksim Square to laborers on May Day and to declare Nevruz, a spring feast, a holiday.
Çelik said the labor union law, in force since the Sept. 12 military coup, would be changed and said another draft law on declaring May 1 a holiday would also be discussed in Parliament.
"We would like to pass the two laws together. They are considerably important legislations. Here we don’t expect 100 percent compromise. There is no such chance because the parties concerned are very different but we are exerting efforts to reach a compromise on a large scale," he said.