Two thousand metal workers will go on strike

Approximately 2 thousand workers of the United Metal Workers' Union (Birleşik Metal-İş) of Türkiye will go on strike on January 23.

The decision for strike action came after a deadlock in the negotiations for a group collective agreement covering 11 factories affiliated with 5 companies, concerning approximately 2 thousand workers. 

Since the Electromechanical Metal Employers' Union (EMİS) was dissolved and joined the Metal Employers' Union of Türkiye (MESS) in 2020, the collective negotiations at the group of factories previously affiliated to EMİS have been carried out with MESS for the last two periods.

MESS requested to have a collective agreement covering three years, instead of two. This was one of the subjects of dispute in the collective negotiations covering the workers of Schneider Energy, Grid Solutions Energy, Schneider Electric, Hitachi, and Arıtaş Cryogenics that started in October.

It was not possible to reach an agreement between the employers' and workers' unions on wage rise or rate of rise in social allowances either, and Birleşik Metal decided to go on strike in all 11 workplaces located in İstanbul, Kocaeli, Manisa, and Bandırma.

"Strike bans are unconstitutional"

Birleşik Metal-İş issued a statement and said "Workers are getting poorer and poorer." Stating that the official inflation rate could no longer be a parameter for wage rises, the union announced the strike decision and said, "If our strike on January 23 is banned, we will use our constitutional right and defy a strike ban. We are announcing this in advance." 

The legislation gives the executive power the authority to suspend strikes, on grounds of "a threat to national security, general health, etc." This authority, which results in a de facto strike ban, was previously used by the Board of Ministers and now can be used by the President. 

The Constitutional Court ruled in 2018, again in a case of suspension of a strike by the Birleşik Metal-İş Union, that the suspension of the strike was a violation of the Constitution. 

The supreme court had also ruled that 52 thousand lira of compensation should be paid to Birleşik Metal-İş Union for the violation. 

Last month again, Birleşik Metal-İş Union went to strike in Bekaert company and continued with the strike action despite a decision by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to suspend the strike.

It was announced on December 31, 2022, by the union that the strike action was lifted and that the workers received a wage rise of 84,83 percent for the first six-month period. (PE)