Tümtis (Tüm Taşıma İşçileri Sendikası – the All Transport Workers’ Union of Turkey) has been organising bus drivers at the company since 2002. It says that a month ago, however, the company started to force Tümtis members to resign from the union and join another one – Oz Taşıma-Iş – instead, and that on 18 July seven more were forced to resign their Tümtis membership. Tümtis added that the company has transferred 160 workers from Gazi-Bel – the municipality’s other company – to Gazi-Ulaş and forced them to become members of Oz Taşıma-Iş, in an attempt to dissolve the membership of Tümtis.
In a letter sent on 19 July, ITF general secretary Steve Cotton reminded the mayor of Gaziantep, Mrs Fatma Sahin, that the right to organise workers free from interference is a fundamental ILO right, and is guaranteed in the Republic of Turkey’s constitutional law article 51.
He continued: “These practices are taking place despite the fact that the collective bargaining agreement that Tümtis has with Gazi-Ulaş Transportation specifies that the company cannot force workers to resign or join another union.
“We understand that at a recent meeting where Tümtis explained the anti-union tactics used by the company, you indicated that you understood the issues and the company manager agreed that he had been recruiting members for Oz Taşıma-Iş. However, the situation at Gazi-Ulaş Transportation remains the same.
“Given the fact that the company management is comprised of officials of the municipality, the ITF requests your good offices to make an urgent intervention to stop any intimidation and union busting practices by management at Gazi-Ulaş Transportation.”
The reasons for the ITF’s intervention were underlined in the latest development, in which, Tümtis reports, Bülent Özaslan, their union representative at Gazi-Ulaş, was fired from his job because he declined to resign from Tümtis and join Öz Taşıma-İş.
