Turkish parliament passes ‘private employment offices bill,’ opening way for rented labor

In line with the regulation, the rental labor system will become possible through private employment bureaus, to which laborer and job-seekers can apply. 

These offices will sign job and labor rental contracts with employers and employees, according to the regulation. 

Employers will pay a fee to these agencies in exchange of the labor rental, and the agencies will make the payment to the related laborers after they get their commission fees. 

Companies which hire temporary laborers will not have employer status, according to the Labor Law. 

With the new regulation, companies will have the opportunity to hire rented worker for an eight-month period. The number of rented workers will not exceed one-fourth of the total number of the employees in a company. 

A number of leading workers’ bodies, including the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK) and the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TÜRK-İŞ), strongly disapproved of the new regulations, arguing that the proposed system – which they described as “slavery” – was against the European Convention on Human Rights.

The regulation was passed the parliament in 2009, but then-Turkish President Abdullah Gül vetoed it after he met with labor union representatives, noting the regulation might create some negative conditions which could lead to labor exploitation and disrupt labor peace.             

The regulation was again opened to discussion in parliament by the current cabinet. 

According to cabinet members, the regulation will not create a “slavery-like system,” but will create more than 300,000 new jobs and decrease the number of informal workers.