AKP Insisting on "Rented Labour"

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) will take the law on private employment agencies back to parliament on 11 August.

President Abdullah Gül had listened to the objections of trade unions and labour organisations, who have branded the planned law as instituting "slavery", and sent the law back to parliament.

Lack of social rights

The planned law would allow private employment agencies to employ workers without having to offer them social rights. The workers would be rented out to other work places.

According to the bill, a company would be allowed to employ up to a quarter of its workforce in such a manner.

The maximum length of such employment contracts would be 18 months and would not oblige the renting employers to provide the workers with any social rights.

This means that workers under such agreements would not receive compensation on dismissal, would not be allowed to strike, and would not be included in collective labour agreements. It would also mean that they could not become trade union members.

EU directive contravened

The government has presented the bill as an effort to observe the EU's directive on private employment agencies. However, labour organisations have argued that the bill violates the directive.

Gül based his veto on this argument.

Contrary to the bill, the EU directive contains certain safeguards. Thus, according to the Eurofound website, the EU directive has the following objectives:

* equal treatment for temporary agency workers as regards employment status and security from the first day of employment, unless a social partner derogation applies (Article 5);

* the option for Member States, having consulted with the social partners, to conclude collective agreements which derogate within limits from the principle of equal treatment, either by collective agreement or, in specific circumstances, by agreement between the national social partners (Article 5);

* respect for established social standards in user companies through equal treatment as regards pay and working conditions;

* recognition of temporary agency work as a legitimate and professional economic activity, by removing unnecessary restrictions and permits or bans (Article 4).

ILO convention

Turkey also yet has to ratify the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Private Employment Agencies Convention of 1997 (C181).

This agreeement protects the rights of foreign workers as well as the rights to organisation and collective bargaining, among others. (TK/AG)