In a series of hearings the public prosecutor brought complaints to 502 trade union leaders, members and others supporting a strike and action in 2012, including from the confederations KESK and DISK and the professional organisations of doctors and of engineers and architects. The public prosecutor charged the union leaders with organising the strike and demonstration, and with the damages done to public property. The case has led to an impressive solidarity campaign by several national and international trade unions colleagues who were present at the hearing. They expressed their concerns: ‘We are shocked that trade unionists are prosecuted in this manner in Turkey. If participating in strikes and demonstrations, and organising them is a criminal activity and seen as radical, then we are all radicals’.
English: http://www.epsu.org/a/10112
http://www.world-psi.org/en/turkey-stop-judicial-harassment-trade-unionists
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.