Opposition wants labor bill annulled

ANKARA

CHP’s Sarı claims that firms have unfair cost advantages in Turkey. DHA photo

The main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has announced it will appeal to the Constitutional Court to annul the recently enacted Labor Code on the grounds that it is unconstitutional and violates international conventions.

“It has become clear why international rating agencies upgraded Turkey’s ratings. Employers gained advantages over labor costs and labor rights in cooperation with the government. The competitive power gained by violating union rights should be questioned even in a capitalist system,” CHP Deputy Chair Perihan Sarı said in a written statement yesterday.

The CHP argues that some clauses of the law are openly in violation of the European Social Charter –a Council of Europe treaty, the International Labor Organization’s (ILO) Convention No. 87 covering the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize and the ILO’s Convention No. 98 concerning the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention. The most significant part of the code was the authorization limit for unions in each sector.

The former sector barrier of 10 percent was brought down to 3 percent with the new law. However, the initial limit will be held at 1 percent until July 2016, after which it will be increased to 2 percent until July 2018.

Sarı, however, claimed that sector barriers did not decrease in practice, indicating that the number of sectors dropped from 28 to 21, which means unions have to gain more members to pass the sector barrier.