Unions urge president to veto new labor code
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by İrem Köker
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Temmuz 06, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - A controversial new labor law is raising plenty of eyebrows. If approved by the Turkish president, 'Private Labor Offices' will be created to hire temporary workers for firms. Labor organizations say the legislation is a move to bring back 'slavery,' while businesspeople give it full support.
Legislation that allows companies to hire temporary workers through private bureaus drew widespread criticism from unions and other labor organizations as the government defended the law, saying it will help to better regulate the labor market.
Approved by Parliament in late June, the law envisages the formation of "Private Labor Offices" able to hire workers for employment in companies, firms or factories. The legislation is pending presidential approval. Unions and labor organizations are urging President Abdullah Gül to veto the legislation, saying it will bring "slavery." Business organizations defend the proposed law, saying it would reduce costs, a critical concern for manufacturers amid the ongoing global crisis.
End of collective bargaining
The chairman of a leading union confederation said the new law would pave the way for "worker brokerage" and result in the destruction of the collective bargaining system. "This regulation will cause irregularities in the employment market," Süleyman Çelebi of the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Unions, or DİSK, said in a statement.
The legislation defines the new system as "the transfer of a worker, who signed a temporary contract with a private employment bureau to another employer in return for a fee." Any person who allocates 20,000 Turkish Liras as collateral will be suitable to apply for permission to open a Private Employment Bureau.
Mustafa Kumlu, chairman of the Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions, or Türk-İş, slammed the regulation, saying it would render the existing mechanisms between unions and government useless. He urged Gül to veto the legislation, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. Critics say an increasing number of Turkish firms would hire temporary workers through these bureaus, causing employees to lose social rights, including social security and severance payments.
Necati Doğru, a columnist from daily Vatan, harshly criticized the regulation in an article published Friday. "We should hear the screams of workers!" he wrote. "Because today, workers in Turkey are sentenced to work under the conditions of the ’cruel capitalism period’ of 250 years ago, which humiliated labor, and disparaged the honor of workers." Doğru said he expects Gül will approve the bill.
As worker organizations and some experts attacked the new legislation, government and employer representatives hailed it, saying it would aid the return of economic growth in the country. Labor Minister Ömer Dinçer said the new regulation would stop workforce abuses and end the so-called "worker bazaar" system in which the unemployed gather at specific locations and are hired for unskilled jobs, especially those in construction, on a daily-fee basis. "There will be no difference between those hired through private bureaus and contracted workers," Dinçer said in an interview with broadcaster CNBC-e. "I don't agree with the criticism. This is one of the models implemented worldwide. This should be considered as a step towards regulating the market."
An official from Turkey’s leading employer-union association said 41 percent of temporary workers in the European Union find a contract-based job after their first assignment. "Temporary employment covers 2 percent of total employment in the EU," the official, who did not want to be identified, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Friday. "Hiring through private employment bureaus does not mean all jobs will be temporary. Those employees work based on contracts either for a period of time or indefinitely," the official said.
Approved by Parliament in late June, the law envisages the formation of "Private Labor Offices" able to hire workers for employment in companies, firms or factories. The legislation is pending presidential approval. Unions and labor organizations are urging President Abdullah Gül to veto the legislation, saying it will bring "slavery." Business organizations defend the proposed law, saying it would reduce costs, a critical concern for manufacturers amid the ongoing global crisis.
End of collective bargaining
The chairman of a leading union confederation said the new law would pave the way for "worker brokerage" and result in the destruction of the collective bargaining system. "This regulation will cause irregularities in the employment market," Süleyman Çelebi of the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Unions, or DİSK, said in a statement.
The legislation defines the new system as "the transfer of a worker, who signed a temporary contract with a private employment bureau to another employer in return for a fee." Any person who allocates 20,000 Turkish Liras as collateral will be suitable to apply for permission to open a Private Employment Bureau.
Mustafa Kumlu, chairman of the Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions, or Türk-İş, slammed the regulation, saying it would render the existing mechanisms between unions and government useless. He urged Gül to veto the legislation, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. Critics say an increasing number of Turkish firms would hire temporary workers through these bureaus, causing employees to lose social rights, including social security and severance payments.
Necati Doğru, a columnist from daily Vatan, harshly criticized the regulation in an article published Friday. "We should hear the screams of workers!" he wrote. "Because today, workers in Turkey are sentenced to work under the conditions of the ’cruel capitalism period’ of 250 years ago, which humiliated labor, and disparaged the honor of workers." Doğru said he expects Gül will approve the bill.
As worker organizations and some experts attacked the new legislation, government and employer representatives hailed it, saying it would aid the return of economic growth in the country. Labor Minister Ömer Dinçer said the new regulation would stop workforce abuses and end the so-called "worker bazaar" system in which the unemployed gather at specific locations and are hired for unskilled jobs, especially those in construction, on a daily-fee basis. "There will be no difference between those hired through private bureaus and contracted workers," Dinçer said in an interview with broadcaster CNBC-e. "I don't agree with the criticism. This is one of the models implemented worldwide. This should be considered as a step towards regulating the market."
An official from Turkey’s leading employer-union association said 41 percent of temporary workers in the European Union find a contract-based job after their first assignment. "Temporary employment covers 2 percent of total employment in the EU," the official, who did not want to be identified, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Friday. "Hiring through private employment bureaus does not mean all jobs will be temporary. Those employees work based on contracts either for a period of time or indefinitely," the official said.