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Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Tulay Hatımoğulları-Oruç has submitted a motion for a parliamentary inquiry into layoffs during the coronavirus pandemic.
While layoffs have been banned due to the pandemic since last March, there is an exception for "behaviors that do not comply with the rules of morality and goodwill," which has been reportedly used by employers to get around the ban.
In the motion, the MP gave several examples of what she called the arbitrary use of article 25/2 of the Labor Law, also known as "Code-29," of the Social Security Institution (SGK).
In one case, Ekmekçioğulları Inc. in Çorum province dismissed more than 90 unionized workers after the Birleşik Metal-İş union was authorized to operate in the company, she said.
Also, two İzmir municipal companies dismissed 16 workers and the Sinbo white appliances company dismissed one worker upon Code-29, she noted.
CLICK - 'Union workers in municipalities dismissed despite layoff ban'
"İstinye University has dismissed academic Gülçiçek Dere, who has asthma and worked from home five days because of that, on February 16, 2021, upon Code-29," she said.
"During the pandemic, PTT [state postal service] Kargo-Sen union laborers and 16 textile workers at Yasin Kaplan Carpets in Gaziantep were dismissed upon Code-29," added the MP.
Saying that women were affected by the arbitrary use of the rule worse than men, Hatımoğulları-Oruç noted, "Because of the sexism in public space, Code-29 is often implemented against women."
"With Code-29, employers can easily avoid their obligations, dismiss workers although layoffs are banned and usurp their rights to severance and notice pay.
"Moreover, workers dismissed by this code cannot receive unemployment salary, short-time work allowance and the cash support given to those who lost their jobs due to Covid-19.
"Unlawfully used against workers who want bad working conditions to be improved and unionized workers in many workplaces, Code-29 is very open-ended and is not adequately controlled.
"Employers clearly commit a crime by preventing the exercise of unionization rights, which are defined in article 118 of the Turkish Penal code." (HA/VK)
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