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9 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 35/2001
Illegal attempts by Turkish employers to break a strike today led to arrests - of strikers.
Contrary to the provisions of the Turkish Labour Code, employers involved in the current labour dispute in the Turkish glass industry were today permitted to remove stocks from plants affected by the strike. Security forces then arrested trade unionists who opposed this illegal action.
Among those detained is Ahmet Aksungur, branch chairman of the Turkish glass, ceramic and earth workers' union Kristal-İş.
Globally, Kristal-İş is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which has protested to Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit over the arrests.
"Such repressive action is contrary to international labour standards," ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs pointed out in a message to Ecevit today. It will therefore "do nothing to improve the perception of Turkey within the European Union and elsewhere."
Higgs urged Ecevit to "ensure the immediate, unconditional release of all the detained trade unionists, and an immediate end to the illegal strikebreaking by the glass industry employers."
90 percent of Turkish glass production has been halted by the strike, which was launched on 24 May at major glass production companies within Turkey's Şişe-Cam group. Some 6,000 workers are involved.
The main issues are pay and subcontracting. The union has been negotiating a new collective agreement with Şişe-Cam since last December, but bargaining broke down over the employers' refusal to consider wage increases in line with inflation. Şişe-Cam insists that real pay will have to go down. The employers say that the International Monetary Fund programme for Turkey calls for cuts in workers' purchasing power.
Subcontracting of labour is on the increase in the Turkish glass industry, and Kristal-İş is firmly opposed to this trend. Kristal-İş also wants an assurance that all Şişe-Cam workers who want to join the union will be allowed to do so. Managers in some Şişe-Cam subsidiaries have been denying workers the right to organise, Kristal-İş says.