International meeting from United Metal-İş: 'The right to strike is the real bargaining power of the worker'

United Metal-İş Union called for solidarity and unity of forces, regardless of confederation, at the meeting where the right to strike and collective action was discussed from a comparative law perspective. DİSK Deputy Chairman and United Metal-İş Chairman Özkan Atar stated that union rights in Turkey are "nearly non-existent" and called for a joint struggle.

United Metal-İş Union hosted the meeting titled "The Right to Strike and Collective Action in the Comparative Legal Dimension", organized together by the Labor Society Magazine and the International Labor Law Dialogue Platform. At the meeting that started on October 15, 2026 at the Elite World Hotel in Taksim, Istanbul, law professors from different countries evaluated the right to strike and collective action.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Özkan Atar emphasized that the right to strike is not a matter of legal debate for metal workers, and that workers are the only real bargaining power against capital.

'THE RIGHT TO STRIKE IS THE REAL BARGAINING POWER OF WORKERS'

Atar drew attention to the advisory opinion given by the International Court of Justice on May 21, 2026. The Court confirmed by 10 votes to 4 that the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 87 protects the right to strike.

Atar evaluated the decision with the following words:

Recognizing the right to form a union and banning strikes means saying "you are free to fly" to the bird whose wings you cut off.

Stating that the Court did not define the scope and conditions of use of the right to strike in detail, Atar said that the next struggle will focus on determining the scope and application conditions of the right.

'UNION RIGHTS ARE NEARLY NONE'

Reminding that the Constitutional Court made the same decision for the sixth consecutive time regarding jurisdictional objections, Atar pointed out that these objections eliminated the right to unionize.

Stating that union rights are seriously limited in Turkey due to sector and workplace thresholds, authority objections, strike bans and dismissals due to union reasons, Atar used the following expressions in his speech:

With industry and workplace thresholds, authority objections, action and strike bans, dismissals for union reasons, in short, union rights are almost non-existent in our country. We, as real class unions, regardless of confederation, as democratic mass organizations, professional organizations, political parties, all oppressed people and citizens in the struggle for labor and democracy, have to fight in solidarity and unity for humane life, for our union rights, for a fair income distribution and tax system. I hope that together we will successfully realize our struggle goals, such as rallies, marches, and actions that can be held in workplaces, that we have announced to the public for the coming days.

Atar called on unions, political parties, democratic mass organizations and professional organizations, regardless of confederation, to organize joint actions in the coming days.

LEGAL SYSTEMS OF DIFFERENT COUNTRIES WERE DISCUSSED

At the meeting, evaluations were made regarding the legal systems of Europe, Türkiye, Germany and Italy. Among the academics participating in the program is Prof. from Linz Johannes Kepler University. Dr. Reinhard Resch, Prof. from Eskişehir Osmangazi University. Dr. Alpay Physicians, Prof from Freiberg Technical University. Dr. Gerhard Ring and Prof. from the University of Trento. Dr. Luca Nogler took part.

At the meeting, Austrian law was also discussed by Prof. Dr. Dr. Günter Löschnigg, Swiss law Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Geiser studied French law with Prof. Dr. Francis Kessler, Danish law by Prof. Dr. Line Olsen Ring and Slovenian law by Prof. Dr. Reviewed by Darja Senčur Peček.