“Workers should be aware of and protect their rights”
07 Dec 2019
On December 5, the 23rd congress of the Turkish-Business Confederation of Trade Unions was held at the Grand Anatolian Hotel in Ankara.
The event, which ended on December 7, was attended by the
heads of non-governmental organizations, representatives of the Turk-ish
organizations and a large number of workers. The event was organized under the
slogan "Turkey has a Turkish business" and "We will not give up
our labor and homeland". He greeted all the members of the Turk-ish
community.
Speaking
after the opening speech of the Secretary General, Turkish-Business Chairman
Ergun Atalay said Turkey is the largest organization in terms of membership. He
said we currently have 1 million members and aim to bring this figure to 1.5
million in the next 4 years.
Referring to
the ongoing minimum wage negotiations, Atalay recalled that Hak-ish and DISC
received their views on this issue: “The minimum wage is 2578 Turkish liras. No
one can agree on any number below. We have members whose compensation is not
paid at the time of dismissal. We are ready for any kind of support to make
arrangements on this. ”
Touching on
the definition of retirement age, Atalay said that we should first reduce the
percentage of informal employment. At present, this figure is 35 percent. If
steps are taken, informal employment will be registered, resulting in an
increase in tax payments. Of the 17 million employees, only 2 million are
members of trade union organizations. The government, employers, and us are
responsible for this.
Atalay
reminded of the deaths of 301 miners in Somalia, noting labor accidents and
work to be done. Speaking about the protection of the rights of workers working
in shopping centers, E. Otalay said that there are about 500,000 employees in
300 major shopping centers in the country. These workers, who have to work more
than 10 hours a day, must know and protect their rights.
Atalay said racism is an incurable
wound and said that an investigation was carried out on the situation of
refugees coming to Syria from Syria and that results would be shared with all
businesses and organizations in the near future.
About 40 foreign guests, including
representatives of international trade union organizations, attended the 23rd
Congress. At the congress, Ergun Atalay was re-elected chairman of the
Turkish-Business Confederation.
The
event was attended by the Azerbaijani delegation led by Deputy Chairman of the
ATUC, Javanshir Alkhasov. In his speech, Alkhasov conveyed the congratulatory
message of the chairman of the ATUC Sattar Mohbaliyev and wished success to the
Congress. During the event, the Deputy Chairman of the ATUC met with
delegations from Kazakhstan, Albania, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus and other
countries and exchanged views.
