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Perception on Social Dialogue in Turkey: The Viewpoints of General Public, Employees and Relevant Actors 2018 2 Perception on Social Dialogue in Turkey: The Viewpoints of General Public, Employees and Relevant Actors Perception on Social Dialogue in Turkey: The Viewpoints of General Public, Employees and Relevant Actors II III Improving Social Dialogue in Working Life
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Perception on Social Dialogue in Turkey: The Viewpoints of General Public, Employees and Relevant Actors
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There is a serious confusion on the union density and trade union membership statistics in Turkey. The information available on the membership of workers' and public employees' organizations is fragmentary and generally contradictory. There are very different data relating to union density, union membership and total employees which have the right to organise according to internationally recognized ILO conventions. Turkish union density figures are not comparable across countries and they have not been acknowledged by ILO. The lack of similar international statistical guidelines on trade union membership leads to serious problems. This paper examines the official trade union membership statistics in Turkey and discusses whether they are reliable or not in the light of international comparisons. Focusing on Trade Union Act (2821), Collective Bargaining, Strike and Lockout Act (2822) and Public Employees' Trade Union Act (4688) and taking into account the ILO criteria and norms, the paper explores the main problem areas derives from several shortages in these acts. Finally an alternative calculation method of trade union density and data collection method is submitted.
Social dialogue is a democratic consultation and concertation process which government and social partners along with other interest organizations seek to determine economic and social policies. Social dialogue can take the forms of bipartite, tripartite and multipartite official consultative committee. Having a working social dialog mechanism also is a precondition for accessing to the EU. The first real attempt to develop a social dialogue was the signing of the Social Agreement between Türk-İş and Ecevit Government in Turkey. After the Economic and Social Council arranged six times with the government decrees, it was established by the Act No 4641 in 2001.
In this chapter we address the combined and uneven development of class capacities in social unionism. The interview data demonstrate that labour flexibility exerts a dual pressure on structural class capacities by dividing the working class along the regular-atypical labour distinctions and fragmenting flexible labour from within itself. These combined factors related to the advance of neoliberalism in the area of labour revolve around the increasing prevalence of high turnover rates, short-term contracts, lack of social insurance, and other informal practices. From the point of view of uneven development and its negative impacts on class capacities, the already fragmented structure of social unionism is consolidated by a set of public policy-related and cultural factors. The state’s interference with union choice—on top of cultural fragmentation along the lines of geographical differences, Islamo-conservative and paternalistic attitudes, white-collar/blue-collar distinctions, and social unions’ exclusion from traditional unions—does nothing but strengthen intra-class fragmentation.