* Photos: DİSK; United Metal Workers' Union; ITUC 2021 Global Rights Index
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) released its "2021 ITUC Global Rights Index" yesterday (June 30).
With a specific emphasis on labor rights during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the index reminds the international community that the "COVID-19 pandemic puts spotlight on workers' rights."
The Confederation summarizes this period in the following words:
Abuses of the right to strike, the right to establish and join a trade union, the right to trade union activities and civil liberties and the right to free speech and assembly are at an eight-year high.
According to the ITUC Global Rights Index, Turkey is among the ten worst countries for working people in 2021:
NOTE: According to the 2020 ITUC Global Rights Index, Turkey was again one of the worst 10 countries for workers.
Turkey has also been listed among the countries with "no guarantee of rights" for working people, along with Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, China, Colombia, among many others:
Noting that "COVID-19 was used as excuse to single out trade union members for forced unpaid leave in Turkey," the ITUC Global Rights Index notes that there is "brutal repression of strikes" and "union-busting" in Turkey, sharing the following information under its Turkey section:
'Restrictions, crackdowns, arbitrary arrests...'
"In 2021, the government of Turkey continued to impose severe restrictions on civil liberties, and workers' freedoms and rights were relentlessly denied with police crackdowns on protests, while trade union leaders were arbitrarily arrested and their homes raided.
"Employers engaged in systematic union-busting by methodically dismissing workers who attempted to organise, especially in the metal, glass, leather and plastic industries."
Right to free speech and assembly
* Photo: Vedat Örüç (1st of May, 2021 in İstanbul)
In its section on Turkey, the ITUC also specifically focuses on the workers' and trade unions' right to free speech and assembly.
Referring to the detention of Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK) Chair Arzu Çerkezoğlu and DİSK Secretary General Adnan Serdaroğlu on May 1, 2020, the ITUC briefly says:
"In Turkey, on May Day 2020 the Istanbul police blockaded the DİSK Confederation Central Office in İstanbul in the early morning hours and arrested DISK president Arzu Çerkezoğlu, DİSK general secretary Adnan Serdaroğlu and twenty-five members of DISK.
"The confrontation took place as police blocked the march to Istanbul's Taksim Square, using the COVID-19 curfew as a pretext.
"The trade unionists were released later in the afternoon. It was the third time the leaders had been arrested that year.
'Violent attacks on workers'
* Photo: United Metal Workers' Union / Twitter
"On 24 November 2020, Turkish police cracked down on members of Birlesik Metal-Is union, which had organised a march from Gebze to Ankara to protest the unfair dismissal of workers in several companies and the use of COVID-19 as an excuse to single out trade union members for unpaid leave.
"A massive police presence prevented the start of the march, and 109 members of Birlesik Metal-Is were taken into police custody. Video footage of the arrests shows extensive police brutality in the process."
The ITUC also lists three companies from Turkey under the heading "Companies violating workers' rights."
Click here for the full report
'Pandemic has devastated jobs, communities, lives'
In its foreword, the ITUC reminds the international community that "the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated jobs, communities and lives":
Governments and employers have exploited the pandemic to dismiss workers who exposed vital information about the spread of the virus in workplaces; violated collective bargaining rights; increased surveillance of workers and undermined the right to privacy; and restricted free speech and assembly.
It briefly adds, "The 2021 Global Rights Index documents a shameful roll call of governments and companies who have pursued an anti-union agenda in the face of workers who have stood on the front line providing essential work to keep economies and communities functioning."
'Workers exposed to violence in 45 countries'
Accordingly, ranking 149 countries on the degree of respect for workers' rights, the ITUC Global Rights Index's key findings include the following:
- 87 percent of countries violated the right to strike.
- 79 percent of countries violated the right to collectively bargain.
- 74 percent of countries excluded workers from the right to establish and join a trade union.
- The number of countries that impeded the registration of unions increased from 89 in 2020 to 109 in 2021.
- Two new countries entered the list of ten worst countries for workers (Belarus and Myanmar).
- The number of countries which denied or constrained freedom of speech increased from 56 in 2020 to 64 in 2021.
- Workers were exposed to violence in 45 countries.
- Workers had no or restricted access to justice in 65 percent of countries.
- Workers experienced arbitrary arrests and detention in 68 countries.
- Trade unionists were murdered in six countries: Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Myanmar, Nigeria and the Philippines.
'We have learned who the heroes are'
Commenting on the findings in the Global Rights Index, ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow briefly says the following:
"The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated jobs, communities and lives. The Global Rights Index exposes a shameful roll call of governments and companies that have pursued an anti-union agenda in the face of workers who have stood on the front line providing essential work to keep economies and communities functioning.
"When COVID-19 hit, we learned who the heroes are. Workers everywhere cared for the sick, put food on our tables, and kept the economy moving. But despite all that, workers are under attack like never before.
Governments and employers exploited the pandemic to exploit the people the world depends on by increasing surveillance, breaking agreements, laying off workers, blocking and intimidating unions and resorting to violence and murder.
About the ITUC
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) defines itself as "the global voice of the world's working people":
"The ITUC's primary mission is the promotion and defence of workers' rights and interests, through international cooperation between trade unions, global campaigning and advocacy within the major global institutions.
"Its main areas of activity include the following: trade union and human rights; economy, society and the workplace; equality and non-discrimination; and international solidarity.
"The ITUC adheres to the principles of trade union democracy and independence. It is governed by four-yearly world congresses, a General Council and an Executive Bureau.
"The ITUC regional organisations are the Asia-Pacific Regional Organisation (ITUC-AP), the African Regional Organisation (ITUC-AF) and the American Regional Organisation (TUCA). It cooperates with the European Trade Union Confederation, including through the Pan-European Regional Council.
"The ITUC has close relations with the Global Union Federations and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC). It works closely with the International Labour Organisation and with several other UN Specialised Agencies."
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