Violations in 2003

Incentives to leave union. Four hundred striking workers were offered increased wages if they agreed to leave the Birlesik Metal-Is union. Industrial action had begun in July 2002 at Ditas, an automotive spare parts company in Central Anatolia, in protest against the employer's refusal to respect trade union rights and bargain with the union. The company had maintained that it could no longer provide jobs for all the workers and that it had to lay off 200. The strike lasted for eight months before the company finally agreed to sign a collective agreement. However, 75 people still lost their jobs.

Government bans strike. On March 21, the government "postponed" a planned strike by workers at the Pirelli plant for fear that it could represent a threat to national security. Lastik-Is, a union serving tyre industry workers, had been trying to negotiate a new collective agreement with Goodyear, Pirelli and Bridgestone, but the employers were clearly not bargaining in good faith. The union therefore decided to call its workers out on strike, beginning at the Pirelli plant. This ban on the right to strike was the third consecutive one since the year 2000. The decree was appealed to the Supreme Court.

Workers forced to change union at Metro. Metro, a leading German retailer, sought to undermine the existing union Tez-Koop-Is, by forcing workers to change to the new union Sosyal-Is. Those who wanted to remain with Tez-Koop-Is or refused to join the new union were threatened with dismissal.

Tez-Koop-Is had had considerable difficulty dealing with the management of Metro over the past four years. Several agreements had been negotiated and then broken by the management of the company. Finally, an agreement acceptable to both sides did appear to have been reached. In the meantime, however, management in Germany and Turkey had been planning to force workers to change unions. Workers were bussed by Metro to a local lawyer's office in March to make the change. 1,000 workers swapped unions in just two days. Management refused to meet with the union to discuss the operation.

Polkima tears up collective agreement. During a dispute at Polkima, a motor vehicle accessory manufacturer based in the industrial suburb of Izmir, management demanded that striking workers resign from their DISK-affiliated union. It then locked out 170 workers in August and tore up their collective agreement.

Unionists fired by government. Fourteen public sector workers were withdrawn from duty after they participated in a work stoppage for one day. As members of KESK, they were protesting against the government's plan to impose obligatory savings from the wages of all workers in Turkey.

Sacked for joining a union. The Birlesik Metal-Is union had been trying to organise workers at the Karyer company, a manufacturer of parts for heating and air conditioning systems. In July 2003, the union applied to the Labour Ministry for official recognition as a collective bargaining agent after 126 employees - a majority of the workforce - had registered with the union. The employer objected to the union's application before the Labour Court and fired 56 of those who joined the union. It then began moving the plant's machines and other equipment to another city in order to prevent any more organising activity.