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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000144 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR DRL/ILCSR AND EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ELAB TU
SUBJECT: LABOR UNION HEAD COUNT "POSTPONED" 
 
ANKARA 00000144  001.3 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  Turkey's Labor and Social Security Ministry was 
supposed to announce on January 17 the number of union members 
compiled by the Social Security Institution.  The Ministry did not 
do so, however, and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) 
submitted a draft law to postpone the announcement to 2011.  The 
official number is important for the unions since it determines 
whether they will retain their authority to conduct collective 
bargaining.  Some speculate that the AKP's postponement is a move to 
pressure unions not to oppose draft legislation on Private 
Employment Offices.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (U) In July 2009 the government issued Law Number 5838, which 
amended Article 12 of Law 2822, on "Collective Labor Agreement, 
Strike and Lock Out."  The amendment tasked the Social Security 
Institution with informing the Labor Ministry about the actual 
number of union members, and filing a report with the numbers on 
January 17, 2010.  The Ministry of Labor and Social Security was 
expected to announce the numbers on that date, but did not.  On 
January 22 the press speculated that AKP Vice Chairman Salih Kapusuz 
had presented a draft law to parliament to amend the reporting date 
for the union numbers to as late as December 31, 2011.  On January 
25 AKP Parliamentary Group Vice Chairman Bekir Bozdag confirmed that 
there was a plan to amend the law's reporting date. 
 
¶3. (U) The issue of accurate reporting of union membership has been 
a focus of union confederations for some time.  According to the 
current Labor Unions Law, for a union to sign collective labor 
agreement in one work sector, it has to have enough members to 
represent more than 10 percent of the workers in that work branch. 
(Note: The government says there are 28 "work branches," such as 
"office workers" or "municipal workers."  End note).  Since the 
unions know they stand to lose their rights to collective bargaining 
if the accurate number is revealed, they never deleted the dead, 
retired or resigned members from their rolls, to keep their 
membership numbers inflated.  The number of unionized workers is 
reported to be around 3.2 million, but experts think that it is 
actually closer to 750,000. 
 
¶4. (U) Turkey is required to have an actual head count of union 
membership as a requirement of the EU accession process.  In order 
to prevent a loss of unionization in the event of a head count 
because of the 10 percent threshold, the last labor minister invited 
the labor confederations to discuss a new Labor Unions Law that 
possibly would have lowered or eliminated the threshold.  None of 
the confederations accepted the minister's invitation.  The current 
minister recently instructed a group of academics to prepare a 
revised Unions Law draft.  The text has not yet been revealed, but 
the press and some labor confederations are speculating that the 
minister's draft foresees a one percent threshold, and removal of 
the requirement that union membership be registered by a notary 
public.  When the rumors started circulating, the confederations 
began to criticize the draft even without seeing it, saying the 
minister should comply with EU and ILO norms and that even a one 
percent threshold is still against universal standards. 
 
¶5. (U) The media is interpreting the GOT's withholding of the actual 
numbers as a "bribe" to unions because the delay coincides with the 
introduction of other draft legislation that will need union support 
to pass.  The new legislation, which was recently passed to the 
Plans and Budget Committee in Parliament to be drafted, will allow 
the formation of private employment offices.  The previous draft law 
for private employment offices was opposed by unions and vetoed by 
the President.  Private employment offices in Turkey are only 
allowed to operate like employment agencies -- that is, they refer 
people seeking employment to companies that are seeking to fill 
permanent vacancies.  The employment offices cannot employ workers 
or provide them benefits, while sending them on temporary contracts 
to fill staffing gaps like a traditional American "temp company." 
 
¶6. (U) Unions opposed the draft law primarily because they believed 
such workers would not have the right to get severance payments or 
to unionize, collectively bargain or strike.  The Confederation of 
Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK) was particularly opposed 
 
ANKARA 00000144  002.3 OF 002 
 
 
to the law because it said it was in conflict with EU regulations 
and ILO Convention No. 181, both of which provide rules for 
temporary employment offices and rights and assurances for temporary 
workers and workers employed through private employment offices. 
(Note: Turkey has not ratified Convention 181 yet. End note.) 
 
¶7. (SBU) Comment.  If the announcement of the actual union numbers 
is postponed for two years, the postponement will favor existing 
unions and confederations because their membership will officially 
remain at inflated levels.  If the GOT succeeds in convincing 
organized labor to support its draft legislation to allow temp 
companies to provide benefits to workers, the result should be a 
more flexible work force.  While this appears for the moment to be a 
win-win situation, the reality remains depressingly low membership 
in unions.  As Turkey's EU Accession process lopes along, we suspect 
union membership numbers will be given a second look once the 
reporting date is officially announced.