Sacked airport workers in Turkey reinstated

2 July 2009

Twenty-one members of a Turkish aviation union who were dismissed by their airport company employer have been reinstated thanks to strike action by their colleagues.

The ground handling workers were sacked on 20 June after they joined the ITF-affiliated union Hava-Is following an organising campaign at Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen International Airport (ISGIA). During the campaign, some 400 members out of a total of 720 workers were recruited by the union. Under Turkish law, the union can only be recognised when at least 50 per cent of employees in the workplace become members of the union. The sacked employees were considered by the company to be “troublemakers”.

As a result of the dismissals, workers began an immediate strike which continued on 21 June; they were demanding that the workers be reinstated. Management carried out the ground handling work themselves until Hava-Is warned the airport authority that this practice undermined flight safety. Numerous flights were disrupted by the two-day stoppage, with a number of airlines threatening to withdraw their contracts with the airport.

On the evening of 21 June, the airport managers agreed to reinstate all 21 workers, who resumed work on 22 June.

Hava-Is president Atilay Aycin said: “We have just applied to the labour ministry to be recognised as the legal bargaining agent at ISGIA.

“The procedure to obtain collective bargaining rights is so cumbersome that it is often very difficult to make full use of these rights. Private sector employers take advantage of this by ignoring the law and dismissing workers for their union activities. That is what ISGIA tried to do.

“However, more ISGIA workers are joining our ranks. We are expecting membership to reach 500.”

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