Brief Description of Employees’ and Employers’ Associations
In the Trade Unions and Collective Labour Agreements Act No. 6356, the union is defined as: “Organisations with legal personality formed by at least 7 employees or employers to work in a line of business in order to protect and develop the common economic and social rights and interests of employees or employers in their labour relations.” As can be understood from the definition, no distinction has been made between the employees’ union and the employer’s union.
Rights and Importance of Trade Unions
Trade unions are considered to be important as they are the basis of freedom of association, which is one of the basic human rights. Herewith, trade unions aim to protect and develop the economic and social rights of employees.
The rights of unions can be sorted as below:
- Making a collective bargaining agreement,
- Deciding on strike or lockout,
- Organising vocational training, courses, and conferences to increase the knowledge of its members, to establish cultural facilities,
- Assisting in the establishment of mutual aid funds for social security or to give credit to the established funds.
In addition, the trial period registration added to the employment contract can be extended up to 4 months with a collective bargaining agreement. Also, whether or not to work on national and public holidays is also determined by the collective bargaining agreement.
Types of Representation
Number of Representatives
The union whose authority to conclude a collective bargaining agreement has been finalised; the number of employees in the workplace:
- 1 if up to 50,
- Between 51 and 100, at most 2,
- Between 101 and 500, at most 3,
- Between 501 and 1000, at most 4,
- Between 1001 and 2000, at most 6,
- If more than 2000, at most 8
appoints the workplace union representative among the members working at the workplace and informs the employer of their identities within 15 days.
Appointment of Representatives
The union workplace representative is appointed by the union whose authority has been finalised to conclude a collective bargaining agreement. One of the above may be appointed as the chief representative. The duties of the representatives continue for the duration of the union’s authority. If there is a provision in the union statute regarding the election of the workplace union representative, the elected member is appointed as the representative.
Tasks and Obligations of Representatives
Workplace union representatives shall, within the limits of the workplace to which they are appointed, be responsible for hearing employees’ requests and complaints; promoting cooperation, peace and harmony between employees and the employer; safeguarding the rights and interests of employees; and assisting in the implementation of the working conditions prescribed under labour legislation and applicable collective bargaining agreements.
Workplace union representatives must perform their duties provided that they do not interfere with the performance of their work at the workplace and do not act in a manner contrary to workplace discipline. At the workplace, union representatives shall be afforded facilities which may be necessary to enable them to perform their duties promptly and effectively.
The employer cannot terminate the employment agreement of a workplace union representative unless there is a just cause for termination and the grounds for such termination are clearly and specifically stated in writing. Within one month from the date of service of the termination notice, the representative or the trade union of which the representative is a member may file a legal action.
The employer cannot transfer a workplace union representative to another workplace or make a fundamental change to the representative’s working conditions without the representative’s prior written consent. Any transfer or fundamental change made in violation of this provision shall be deemed null and void.
Employees’ Representation in Management
In practice, in collective bargaining agreements, representatives are mostly allowed to perform their duties during business hours, under the name of “representative leave”. In fact, in workplaces where the number of representatives is high, the chief representative is considered to be on leave for almost the whole day. However, it continues to receive salary from the employer. In other words, he/she is engaged in union activity while he/she receives salary from the employer.
Other Types of Employee Representative Bodies
In practice in Türkiye, it is not seen that it is divided into different bodies in this way. However, if the committees as exampled above are included within the collective bargaining agreements, then employee representative bodies within a workplace can be established.
