The right of collective negotiations and strike is a universal right which is entitled to all workers by international agreements. Obstacles, which block the public officials to use their right of labour negotiations and strike, are not judicial but political. The problem arises from the anti-democratic attitude of the government not to apply the international agreements that have been already signed.
As the current law gives all authority to the Government, a real collective negotiation system has not been established in collective negotiation process between the Government and Trade Unions and Confederations of public officials since the August. Through the collective negotiations, the government entitles social and financial rights in an amount of how much did it want. Thus, up to the last day of negotiations the government has not declared any number about the monetary case and this proves that this year again the wages will be dictated by only one of the parts which is the government. As a reaction to the KESK’s (Confederation of Public Employees Trade Unions) demand for the right of collective bargaining, the government claims the existence of a constitutional block; however, it does not reflect the facts. Many of the international agreements which were assigned by Turkey according to the Article 90 of the Constitution guarantees the right of collective agreement and strike without making distinction between public officials and the labours. Such agreements are International Labour Organization’s Conventions numbered 87, 98 and 151, the Article 11 of European Convention on Human Rights, International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Government’s indecisive attitude during the EU harmonization process appears again, and the rights of the workers were ignored.
The democratic activities and demonstrations against the violations of human rights are also guaranteed by international agreements. Thus, in the decrees of European Court of Human Rights, collective actions for the rights of labour union, collective agreement and strike, were stated as a human right.
We believe that the demonstration program of KESK, firstly the walk from Ýstanbul to Ankara, namely “We are walking to collective agreement for a humanly life” and secondly the activity which will be held in Ankara will a gain of struggle for human rights. In the countries like Turkey, in which the anti-democratic applications are too common, these kind of democratic activities are helpful for the development of right conscious.
We invite the government not to apply the Code numbered 4688 which provides the government with the chance of saying the last word, instead the government should apply the international agreements and make collective agreements with the public official’s organizations and state the economic and social rights of the public officials through these collective agreements.
We will not let KESK, which struggles for the economic and social rights of the public officials since many years, and public officials alone. In the same time, this struggle is a struggle for human rights, the defenders of human rights will always with them.
HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION HEADQUARTERS