To be or not to be: union busting and avoidance strategies in Turkey
| Autor | Banu Uçkan Hekimler |
| Cargo | Facuudade de Ciências Economicas e Administração, do Departamento de Economia do Trabalho e Reações Industriais, da Universidade de Anadolu, Turquia |
| Páginas | 73-90 |
73
TO BE OR NOT TO BE: UNION BUSTING AND AVOIDANCE
STRATEGIES IN TURKEY
SER OU NÃO SER: ESTRATÉGIAS DE FALÊNCIAS E RECUPERAÇÃO
DOS SINDICATOS NA TURQUIA
Banu Uçkan Hekimler
1
ABSTRACT: Trade union membership has been decreasing all over the world due to the dif ferent factors, such as
shift from manufacturing sector to service sector, digitalisation and informalisation of the economy, changing nature
of labour. Furthermore, legal restrictions and non-union policies of the states and employers also play an undeniable
role for declining membership rates. Turkey, as a candidate country for the EU since 1960’s, is characterised by weak
unionism, dominant state role in industrial relations as well as by hostile ideology towards unions. Both the loopholes
in the legislative framewor ks, and macro-economic and political structures pave the way for union resistant
environment in Turkey. The paper aims to examine and discuss union busting and avoidan ce strategies in Turkey
regarding with Roy’s (1980) and Gall’s (2004) classification, and country specific factors.
KEYWORDS: Trade Unionism; Union Busting; Union Avoidance; Freedom of Association; T urkey.
SUMMARY: 1.Introduction, 2 . The General Framework of Industrial Relations Sys tem in Turkey, 3. Non-
Unionisation Strategies in Turkey, 3.1. The Policy of Union Suppression, 3.2. The Policy of Union Substitution, 3.3.
The Policy of Stonewalling, 3.4. The Policy of Ideological Hostility to Unions, 3.5. The Policy of Yellow Unionism,
4. Conclusion
RESUMO: A filiação sindical tem diminuído em todo o mundo devido a diferentes fatores, como a mudança do setor
manufatureiro para o setor de serviços, digitalização e informalização da economia, mudança na natureza do trabalho.
Além disso, restrições legais e políticas não sindicais dos estados e empregadores também desemp enham um papel
inegável para o declínio d as taxas de adesão. A Turquia, como país candidato à UE desde a déc ada de 1960, é
caracterizada por um sindicalismo fraco, u m papel dominante do Estado nas relações industriais, bem como por uma
ideologia h ostil em relação aos sindicatos. Tanto as lacunas nos quadros legislativos quanto as estruturas
macroeconômicas e políticas abrem caminho para um ambiente resistente à sindicalização na Turquia. O artigo tem
como objetivo examinar e discutir estratégias de repressão e evasão de sindicatos na Turquia em relação à classificação
de Roy (1980) e Gall (2004) e fatores específicos do país.
Palavras-chave: Sindicalismo; Repressão Sindical; Evasão Sindical; Liberdade de associação ; Turquia.
SUMÁRIO:1.Introdução, 2. O Quadro Geral do Sistema de Relações Laborais na Turquia, 3. Estratégias d e Não
Sindicalização na Turquia, 3.1. A Política de Supressão Sindical, 3.2. A Política de Substituição Sindical, 3.3. A
política de obstrução, 3.4. A Política d e Hostilidade Ideológica aos Sindicatos, 3.5. A Política do Sindicalismo
Amarelo, 4. Conclusão
1. Introduction
Trade union density rates worldwide has been decreasing over time due to the various social
and economic factors, such as the shift from manufacturing to service sector, the informalization
of economy, changing employment relationship and digitalization of employment. Furthermore,
legal restrictions and violations of union rights are another serious challenge for trade unions in
Artigo enviado em 20/09/2022
Artigo aprovado em 15/12/2022
1
Facuudade de Ciências Economicas e Administração, do Departamento de Economia do Trabalho e Reações
Industriais, da Universidade de Anadolu, Turquia.
74
most of the countries. Consequently, it is not a coincidence that trade union density rates are lower
where there are violations of trade union rights
2
. In other words, there is a significant negative
relationship between labour rights violations (lrv) and the level of unionization: r(lrv)=0,46
(N=137)
3
.
Although the ILO conventions directly relating with the union rights, no. 87 adopted by
157 countries and no. 98 adopted by 168 countries, including Turkey, in 2022
4
, today union rights
have been violated or disregarded by some governments and employers. In Turkey, violations of
union rights erode the trade unionism by keeping the workers away from right to organise. This
hostile environment towards trade unions designates the industrial relations system in Turkey.
As a candidate country for joining the EU since the 1960s, Turkey is a fruitful country in
terms of union hostility and union avoidance and busting policies. Although the retreat of trade
unionism has usually been attributed to changing social, economic and political conditions in
Turkey just as in other countries, the state suspicion and employer hostility towards trade unions
has been a distinctive and dominant factor for the low union density rate.
The union rights have always been at the very bottom of the rights agenda in Turkey during
its entire history. With the exception of the period of 1960-1980, the union rights were
systematically disregarded or violated. As a result of violation of union rights, Turkey is one of the
ten worst countries in the world for working people according to the Global Rights Index 2022
published by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
5
. In this paper, after drawing a
general framework of industrial relations system in Turkey, main union avoidance and busting
strategies, as a significant factor for low union density rate, will be discussed by using Roy’s (1980)
and Gall’s (2004) classification, and country specific factors.
2. The General Framework of Industrial Relations System in Turkey
Industrial relations system in Turkey is generally characterized by low union density,
decentralized collective bargaining and authoritarian state figure as well as hostile labour-
employer and labour-state relations. The state is the dominant actor of industrial relations, neither
a bourgeoisie nor a working class in the European sense developed in the Turkish pre-Republican
period. Labour and union rights gained in Europe through intense class struggle were conferred
unilaterally in Turkey by the state. Bülent Ecevit, the Minister of Labour during 1961-1965 period,
gave a speech at the parliament stating that union rights, which were obtained as a result of bloody
2
For the unionization levels and labour rights violation index see: https://www.ilo.org/infostories/en -
GB/Stories/Labour-Relations/trade-unions#where/unionization
3
VISSER, Jelle. Trade Unions in the Balance. ILO ACTRAV Working Paper . 2019. p. 52.
4
For the list of the countries ratified the ILO conventions see:
https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:12001:::NO:::
5
ITUC. 2022 ITUC Global Rights Index. Disponível em: https://files.mutualcdn.com/ituc/files/2022-ITUC-Rights-
Index-Exec-Summ-EN_2022-07-06-063804.pdf. 2022. Access date: 13 Aug 2022.
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