Turkish Cypriot opposition figures and trade union leaders on Friday reacted with fury after the north’s ‘government’ submitted a new bill to ‘parliament’ which would give itself new powers over collective labour agreements signed between employers and workers.
The bill states that any collective labour agreement signed involving public sector employees must receive a “positive written opinion” from the ‘finance ministry’ before it enters force, thus effectively giving the central ‘government’ the final say over any deal reached between unions and public sector employers.
Opposition party CTP ‘MP’ Devrim Barcin expressed his fury at the bill, saying the bill is “aimed at preventing collective agreements from being signed in public institutions and organisations”.
He described the bill as a “fascist attack on unionised life”, and said workers and trade unions in the north will “give you the necessary answer” should it become law.
He also said the bill is unconstitutional, as the ‘TRNC’s’ constitution states that “employees and employers have the right to establish, freely become members of, and resign from unions and trade union associations without prior permission.”
Fellow CTP ‘MP’ Urun Solyali later in the day also pointed to a ‘supreme court’ ruling from 2017, which stated that “when the rules in the mentioned areas are kept within the limits determined by persons or institutions other than employees and employers, we are faced with the fact that the essence of the right to collective bargaining is violated.”
In short, this ruling states that outside intervention in collective agreements is illegal.
Trade unions were also up in arms over the bill, with union Dev-Is chairman Semih Kolozali saying, “we will never allow them to directly intervene in the collective labour agreement system in an unconstitutional manner”.
Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot municipal workers’ union Bes chairman Mustafa Yanlikaya pointed out that the bill would allow the central ‘government’ to intervene and veto collective labour agreements signed between his union and municipalities.
“Municipalities are autonomous, their laws are special, their budgets are separate, and their mayors and councils are elected by the people. Really, I ask, who are the government in this?”
