Turkish
Confederation of Turkish Trade Union’s 1th district representative Mr. Faruk Büyükkucak, United Metal Workers Union, Turkey Petroleum Chemical Rubber Industry Workers Union Aliağa Agency Management, BOSCH Resistance Group, Hey Textile Resistance Group, TKP, Mücadele Birliği, Anti-Capitalist Muslims, Journal of Labor, UİDDER, EÖC and Subcontractor Workers' Solidarity Association gave support to press release. Read more...
About 150 Hava-İş members and supporters sent their message of struggle at a picket and press conference on March 28, at lunch time, in front of the Ataturk International Airport, main hub of Turkish Airlines. The action was organized by the Turkish Civil Aviation Union (Hava-İş), in conjunction with the 24th period collective bargaining talks.
Unions and community groups joined the picket line formed 304 days ago to campaign for the reinstatement of unfairly dismissed 305 workers, chanting, "On the picket line until we win!" and "Rights are not handed down; it is on the street that victory is won!"
The campaign has already scored a victory against a blanket strike ban brought by the current AKP government on the demand of Turkish Airlines management. Read more...
The ITF and its Turkish affiliate Hava-Is have lodged a complaint with the ILO against both the Turkish government and Turkish Airlines, the national flag carrier.
The complaint is against the government in relation to the conduct of Turkish Airlines that led to the dismissal of 305 workers in May 2012. The ITF and Hava-Is believe that the carrier’s conduct exposes several failures in Turkish law to protect the rights of workers and trade unions, for which the Turkish government is responsible, as a member of the ILO and a signatory of conventions 87 and 98.
The ITF and Hava-Is argue that Turkey’s new Law of Trade Unions and Collective Labour Agreements (LTUCLA) is inadequate. Given the seriousness of the carrier’s trade union rights violations, they urge the ILO’s Committee of Freedom of Association (CFA) to find Turkey to be in breach of its ILO convention obligations and to call on it to amend the LTUCLA so that the law fully conforms with freedom of association principles. Read more...
The IUF (The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations) delegation joined the Hava-Is picket line in solidarity to mark a new stage of IUF support to the ITF and its international campaign for justice for dismissed Turkish Airline members.
IUF general secretary Ron Oswald and international officer Burcu Ayan pledged the IUF's practical and unconditional support to the ITF campaign.
Dear non-Turkish speaking members of Hava-İş,
As you may be aware, the collective-bargaining negotiations between our union and Turkish Airlines management, which were supervised by an official mediator appointed by the Ministry of Labour, collapsed at the end of February.
At the moment, the official mediator is preparing her report regarding the talks, which will be submitted to the Ministry of Labour and both parties soon.
The main reason behind the failure in the talks is the employer's uncompromising attitude. Turkish Airlines management categorically refused to discuss all of our basic and indispensable demands regarding your employment conditions.
Management’s wage offer based on official inflation targets of the Central Bank was derisory, particularly in light of the company’s record profits last year as well as previous years. Read more...
On Wednesday, 16 January, a Flying Squad of airline workers from YYZ and YTZ briefly occupied the Canadian Headquarters and Sales Office of Turkish Airlines in Toronto. This action resulted in an impromptu meeting with THY's Canadian Director.
During this meeting, it was made clear that if THY does not re-instate, the 305 terminated THY workers and reaches a settlement with Hava-Is, further actions will be taken by airline workers in Canada, including protests, leafleting and picketing.
A video showing this meeting can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cOw2-agY5s
