Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 349, March 2008

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 291. The Committee last examined this case at its May–June 2007 meeting [see 347th Report, paras 1–26]. On that occasion, it made the following recommendations:
   • (a) The Committee requests the Government to take all necessary measures as soon as possible to bring its legislation into conformity with Convention No. 87, ratified by Turkey and in particular:
   • (i) to amend section 5 of the Public Employees’ Trade Unions Act No. 4688 as well as the Regulation on the Determination of Branch of Activity of Organizations and Agencies, which determine the branches of activity according to which public employees’ trade unions may be established, so as to ensure that these branches are not restricted to any particular ministry, department or service, including local governments;
   • (ii) to amend the Regulation of 2 August 2005 (which amends the Regulation on the Determination of Branch of Activity of Organizations and Agencies) so as to maintain Yapi-Yol Sen members concerned by this complaint within the branch of activity entitled “Public works, construction and village services” in conformity with the nature of their functions and their willingness to remain affiliated to YapiYol Sen;
   • (iii) to amend section 16 of the Public Employees’ Trade Unions Act No. 4688 so as to ensure that trade union office is not terminated by reason of the transfer of a trade union leader to another branch of activity, or his/her dismissal or simply the fact that a trade union leader leaves the work.
     • The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed in respect of all the above.
   • (b) The Committee requests the Government to take all necessary measures to ensure that the lost membership of Yapi-Yol Sen is immediately restored and the check-off system reinstated and trusts that, pursuant to the appeal lodged by the complainant on this case, the Court will take the relevant freedom of association principles embodied in Convention No. 87 into account in rendering its decision. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed in this respect and to transmit any court decisions as soon as they are handed down.
2. 292. In a communication dated 18 October 2006, the Government indicates that the Rural Services Department was abolished by Act No. 5286 promulgated on 13 January 2005 and, pursuant to transitional section 1 of this law, its staff at headquarters were transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, its staff in the provinces of Istanbul and Kocaeli were transferred to the principal municipalities of these two cities, and those in the other provinces were transferred to the other provincial administrations. The name of the department was then deleted from the list appended to the Regulation of 7 September 2001 (Official Gazette No. 24516) on the Determination of Branch of Activity of Organisations and Agencies in the framework of the Public Employees’ Trade Unions Act, pursuant to a new Regulation of 2 August 2005 (Official Gazette No. 25894).
3. 293. By Decision No. 2006/2052 of 4 August 2006, the Tenth Chamber of the Council of State dismissed, in accordance with section 15(b)(1) of Act No. 2577, the complaint from YapiYol Sen, which lodged an appeal with the General Assembly of the Administrative Dispute Chambers of the Council of State. The case is in progress.
4. 294. Section 4 of Act No. 4688, which covers the establishment of trade unions, states that unions of public servants may be established on the basis of branches of activity by the officials employed in those branches. The aim of these unions is to operate throughout the country. More than one union can be set up in a branch of activity. The union may not be set up on the basis of the workplace or the occupation. Therefore, an official’s occupation and post are irrelevant in determining union membership. The union of officials can only be set up on the basis of branches of activity, not occupation or workplace. Whatever their titles or posts, officials may only be members of a union which operates in a branch of activity encompassing the official’s institution.
5. 295. After the abolition of the Rural Services Department, the name of the latter was deleted from the list of branches of activity on which it previously appeared. After the deletion, the transfer of its staff to other public institutions was based on security of employment as recognized by statute. Hence there is no obstacle to being affiliated to a different branch of activity from the one joined on entry into service. After the transfer referred to above, the continuation of the officials’ membership in their previous union might block the process to determine the competent unions and the system laid down by Act No. 4688.
6. 296. The number of officials is not the same in every branch of activity. There are branches to which hundreds of thousands of officials may belong (for example, education, training and science), but branches also exist which barely comprise 10,000 officials (for example, art and culture). The purpose of this procedure is not to prevent the exercise of trade union rights or deprive a union of its dues, but to make unions operational through a branch-based approach.
7. 297. The Committee notes with regret that the Government has not supplied any information on the measures taken to give effect to its recommendations. It notes the Government’s statement that the Tenth Chamber of the Council of State rejected the complaint of Yapi-Yol Sen, which lodged an appeal. The case is in progress before the General Assembly of the Administrative Dispute Chambers of the Council of State. The Committee again requests the Government to take all necessary measures to ensure that the lost membership of Yapi-Yol Sen is immediately restored and the check-off system reinstated. The Committee hopes that the Council of State, further to the appeal lodged by the complainant organization in the present case, will take into consideration the principles of freedom of association embodied in Convention No. 87 when it issues its decision. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed in this respect and send as soon as possible a copy of the appeal decision issued by the Council of State.