Turkey - Metalworkers’ strike banned - December 31, 2024

Strike actions by metalworkers at major companies, including GE Grid Solutions, Hitachi Electric, Schneider Electric and Arıtaş, have been brought to a halt following a Presidential decree banning the strikes on the grounds of national security. IndustriALL Global Union and industriAll Europe condemn the ban which affects ten factories in four companies and urge the employers to not honour this attack on democracy and workers' fundamental rights. The industrial action, organized by the Birlesik Metal-Is (United Metalworkers’ Union), began on 4 December at Hitachi's Kartal, Tuzla, Dilovasi, and Dudullu plants. Negotiations with the employers' federation MESS had broken down after management offered a 40% wage increase — a proposal deemed insufficient, as it would leave workers earning below the poverty line. The union, in contrast, demanded a 125% increase to offset real wage losses and secure a living wage for its members..

Read on: in English…

For more information, please contact Paul de Beer or Oana Ciuca, De Burcht (Scientific Bureau for the Dutch Trade Union Movement) p.t.debeer@uva.nl or the Head of communications at the ETUI, Mehmet Koksal mkoksal@etui.org. For previous full issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit https://www.etui.org/Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter or consult the archive with all articles in our database at www.cbnarchive.eu.
You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org.