Birlik Sağlık Sen Chairman Ahmet Doğruyol reacted to the 5 percent threshold discussions, which will directly affect the union rights and representation power of public servants. In the press statement made at the union building, union president Ahmet Doğruyol reminded the 1 percent and 2 percent union threshold attempts, which were previously canceled by the Council of State and the Constitutional Court (AYM), and emphasized that the new initiative has no legal basis and is clearly against international agreements.
"THERE IS NO LEGAL BASIS"
Stating that the new regulation aims to take away the compensation rights of unionized civil servants, Doğruyol said, "There is no legal basis for the union threshold that is being tried to be introduced regarding the non-payment of union compensation to the members of unions that have not been able to become members at a certain percentage of our public servants." Arguing that authorized unions ignore the real problems, Doğruyol said, "Ineffective unions under the control of politics do not worry about the problems of civil servants below the poverty line or retirees who need food and bread below the hunger line, but are concerned with protecting their own seats."
CRITICISM TO MEMUR-SEN
Directly targeting Memur-Sen in his statement, Doğruyol drew attention to the difference in attitude in the past and said, "The weak union of that time, Memur-Sen, which was trying to abolish the 5 percent union threshold that came into force with the law that came into force in 2001, today, we did not knock on the door for the 5 percent union threshold to come. Why? Love for seats."
"THEY ARE CREATING CHAOS, KNOWING THAT HE WILL RETURN FROM THE JUDICIAL"
Reminding that the 1 percent threshold in 2021 was canceled by the Council of State, and the subsequent 2 percent threshold was canceled by the Constitutional Court, finding it contrary to Article 51 of the Constitution and ILO conventions, Doğruyol described the new initiatives as a "perception operation". Ahmet Doğruyol said, "The so-called unions under tutelage, which cannot achieve what they want with the 1 percent and 2 percent thresholds, and those who are incapable of increasing the purchasing power of civil servants and retirees, are bringing similar thresholds to the agenda again today. It should be known that their concern is not the employees, but their own political and union prospects."
Responding to the allegations that the Ministry of Labor and Social Security has a positive view on the union threshold, Doğruyol said, "We believe that neither our President nor our Minister of Labor and Social Security will say 'yes' to such an unlawfulness. Trying to take advantage of the chaos environment by making such attempts, knowing that the judiciary will annul it, is something that only those who pursue personal interests can do."
KAYA: WE WILL NOT ALLOW EMPLOYEES TO BE TAKEN AWAY FROM THEIR FREEDOM TO CHOOSE A UNION
Anadolu Eğitim Sen İzmir Provincial Representative Mehmet Kaya said, "Some well-known unions, with the fear of losing members and the rush to protect their own monopolies in the union field, demand a 5 percent threshold for collective bargaining bonuses and membership fees. We, as representatives of labor and free will, are directly against this anti-democratic and unlawful demand!
We would like to clearly remind that this issue is not new and its legal dimension has been clearly decided before. Unlawful thresholds such as 1 percent and 2 percent, which were intended to be introduced in the past, were rejected by the Constitutional Court and relevant judicial authorities, as they were found to be contrary to the principles of equality and freedom of union organization in our constitution. While the decisions of the higher judiciary are obvious, to circumvent the law and now mention the 5 percent threshold is to ignore court decisions and trample on the rule of law. This demand is made not to defend the rights of the worker, but to destroy small and independent unions and confine workers and civil servants to a single address. We hereby call out to those who are eager to create a union monopoly and to those who think of facilitating this unlawfulness: You cannot mortgage the free will of the worker! You cannot bring before us a practice that the judiciary has repeatedly called 'unlawful' by increasing the rates. We will not allow any employee to be deprived of their freedom to choose a union or to be oppressed by dues and bonus schemes. "We will continue to defend the rule of law and free unionism until the end and fight shoulder to shoulder against these impositions," he said.
