With the new regulation, it is envisaged that civil servants who are members of unions with a membership ratio of two percent of those working in their field will be given "Collective Agreement Bonus", and those who are members of unions below the threshold will be given "Collective Agreement Support". On the other hand, civil servant unions are divided into two regarding the regulation. While Türkiye Kamu-Sen Union called for the discipline of the trade union field, Confederation of Independent Public Servants Unions (BASK) stated that the regulation is against the Constitution and international agreements.
The threshold regulation affecting the civil servant unions in terms of the number of members was accepted by the commission and sent to the General Assembly. The regulation was previously added as 1 percent to the 6th Term Collective Agreement, but was abolished by the Council of State with a stay of execution decision. Now, it was arranged and sent to the General Assembly of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM), which caused controversy.
THE AMOUNTS TO BE GIVEN BY THE THRESHOLD WILL VARY
Members of trade unions exceeding 2 percent in terms of the number of members in the proposal submitted by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to the Assembly "Collective Bargaining Bonus" and "Collective Bargaining Support" will be given to those who are members of the unions under the threshold. While the Collective Bargaining Bonus was around 700 Turkish Liras (TL), the amount given in the collective agreement support to be given to the unions below 2 percent was determined as 1/3.
TURKEY KAMU-SEN UNION: “THE SYNDICATED AREA MUST BE DISCIPLINED”
Pointing out that a regulation in public unionism is a must, Türkiye Kamu-Sen Union Deputy Chairman Türkeş Güney stated that no gain can be achieved with fragmented unionism and said, “There are approximately 2 million union members in the public sector. The number of union members under the threshold is 81,500. There are a total of 283 unions in the public sector, 188 of which are below the threshold. In 44 of these unions, the 34 member conditions required for legal personality are not met. There is even a union with only one member. On the other hand, with the implementation of the collective bargaining fee, those trying to exploit this regulation structures emerged. That's why we say that the trade union field should be disciplined. Civil servant unionism is about to fall into the bad situations of the past. It is not possible to get results with fragmented structures in this way.”
BASK: “REGULATION IS AGAINST THE CONSTITUTION AND INTERNATIONAL CONVENTIONS”
Reminding that the 1 percent threshold added to the 6th Term Collective Agreement held in August was stopped by the Council of State, Chairman of the Confederation of Independent Public Servants Unions (BASK), Mehmet Alper Öğretici, stated that the practice is contrary to the Constitution and international agreements, and said, “Over 200 unions and approximately 200 thousand union members will be affected by the proposal sent to the commission to set a 2 percent threshold for union members, which is included in the Electricity Market Law and Amending Certain Laws and the Decree Law No. 375. This regulation is against the Constitution and international conventions.”