Erdogan's attack on public service workers continues

İbrahim Kara, Co-President of SES (Turkey), spoke today at the Committee on the Application of Standards about the violations perpetrated by the Turkish government with respect to Convention No. 87.

Read his speech:


On behalf of PSI and Trade Union of Employees in Public Health and Social Services (SES), I would like to express my warmest regards to all participants of the ILC.

1)- Tens of thousands of public officers were arbitrarily dismissed from the public service by emergency decree laws issued under the State of Emergency. It needs to noted that these public officers were permanently dismissed from their offices.

As of these unjust dismissals, 796 SES members were dismissed from the public service by the Decrees. Only 17 of them have been reinstated by other Emergency Decree Laws.

Video

Interview with İbrahim Kara, Co-President of SES (Turkey) on the sidelines of the #ILC2019

Interview with İbrahim Kara - Co-President of SES (Turkey)

796 SES members were dismissed from the public service by the Decrees. Only 17 of them have been reinstated by other Emergency Decree Laws.

The Inquiry Commission on the State of Emergency Measures has been set up by the Government. All dismissed public officers have to apply to the Commission before they take their case to court.

So far, 117 applications of SES members were examined by the Commission. While 42 of these applications were accepted and (they were reinstated) by the Commission, 58 of these applications were rejected.

2)- A new measure has been introduced to the recruitment procedure of public officers. The new measure is called as security investigations. Those who do not pass the security investigation are not recruited by public institutions.

The scope of the security investigation is too broad to get an idea about its rules and procedure. In fact there is no limit to the scope in this respect. It is considerably unlawful and arbitrary. Thus, citizens’ right to work is violated through unfair investigations.

People are labelled as inappropriate to be a public officer on the basis of their ethnic and religious background and political views or trade union choice. This policy affects anyone who is opponent (or even considered opponent) to the Government’s policies.

İbrahim Kara Co-President of SES (Turkey)

People are labelled as inappropriate to be a public officer on the basis of their ethnic and religious background and political views or trade union choice.

3)- In addition to that security investigations, potential public officers have to pass an interview that gradually becomes common in all sectors. We are worried about the content of the interviews since there are no questions related to the professional competency or occupational skills.

In fact, interview is not an objective method to measure professional capacity. The oral interview in question has become a mechanism to measure one’s loyalty to the ruling party and serves to recruit people who are considered appropriate. There is no record of these interviews. It is absolutely arbitrary. For example, one may get a high score from the central exam, which should be the key determinant to be recruited, but fails to pass the oral exam.

The risk of being dismissed, for those who already work, and fail in the interview for potential public officers aim to silence everyone in a country with such a high unemployment rate.

Unless there is job security, no public officer cannot exercise his/her freedom of expression, right to participate in political life, and right to join a trade union etc. This fact negatively affects the quality of public services.

SES still struggles for trade union and labour rights under these conditions. Not surprisingly, our trade union activities are prevented by public authorities. Usual trade union activities such as distribution of leaflets, organising meetings with public officers at workplaces, organising press conferences on labour issues are prevented by public authorities. Our appointment requests from authorities are not accepted by them.

All these facts demonstrate that right to establish a trade union and freedom of association are seriously and blatantly violated by public authorities.

Despite these difficulties and challenges, SES will continue to struggle for trade union and labour rights in a determined manner.

İbrahim KARA

Co-President of SES

PSI Delegation

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In Turkish

PSI ve Türkiye’li Sağlık ve Sosyal Hizmet emekçileri adına tüm katılımcıları saygıyla selamlıyorum.

1)- Binlerce kamu emekçisi herhangi bir gerekçe gösterilmeden, hukuki süreçler yürütülmeden,  OHAL döneminde ilan edilen KHK'lar ile işlerinden ihraç edildi. Bu süre içerisinde Sendikamızın da 796 üyesi kamu görevinden ihraç edilmiştir. İhraç edilen üyelerimizin 17’si yine KHK’ler ile görevlerine iade edilmiştir. Bugüne kadar OHAL Komisyonuna (ihraç edilenlerin dava açmadan önce başvurmaları zorunlu hale getirilen bir komisyon ) başvuru yapan 117 üyemizin başvurusu sonuçlanmıştır. 42 üyemizin başvurusu olumlu sonuçlanıp üyelerimiz görevlerine iade edilirken, 58 üyemizin başvurusu reddedilmiştir.

2)- Kamuda işe alımlardan önce kişi hakkında güvenlik soruşturması yürütülmekte; güvenlik soruşturmalarından geçemeyenler işe alınmamaktadır. Güvenlik soruşturmalarının kapsamı, kimlerin eleneceği de son derece kuralsız, hukuksuz ve keyfidir. İktidara muhalif olanlar, etnik, mezhepsel, siyasal tercihleri farklı olanlar adeta fişlenip keyfi sebeplerle soruşturmadan da geçirilmemektedir.

3)- Kamuda işe alımlarda mülakat uygulaması yaygınlaştırılmaktadır. Mülakatlar, mesleki yeterlilik ya da iş alanına dair nesnel bir ölçe yöntemi değildir. Kayıt tutulmayan, keyfi, siyasal yandaşlık ölçen; istediğini işe almamanın vesilesi haline getirilen mekanizmalardır. İşe girişte belirleyici olan yazılı sınavda çok yüksek puan alanlar, mülakatlarda düşük puanlar verilerek elenmektedir.

İşsizliğin bu derece yüksek olduğu ülkemizde kamuda çalışma hakkından mahrum edilmek sistemle uyumlulaştırmanın aracı haline gelmiş durumda. Çalışma hakkı güvencede olmayan bir emekçinin ifade özgürlüğünü, siyasal süreçlere katılma hakkını, seçmen olarak tutumunu, sendikal tercihini rahatlıkla kullanması ya da ortaya koyması zor ya da olanaksızdır. Bu durum ise kamu hizmetleri açısından korkunç bir tablo ortaya çıkarmaktadır.

Sendika olarak tüm bu koşullarda yürüttüğümüz mücadele de çeşitli biçimlerde engellenmektedir. En doğal hakkımız olan sendikal faaliyet yürütmek, sendika materyallerini işyerlerinde üyelerimize ve tüm emekçilere ulaştırmak; yemekhanelerde dağıtmak, standlar açmak, basın açıklamaları ve gösteriler yapmak, kurum yöneticileri tarafından engellenmeye - kısıtlanmaya çalışılmaktadır. Sendikamızın işyerlerinde yayınlarını duyurduğu panolara müdahale edilmekte, panolara ne koyup koymayacağımıza işverenlerin karar vermesi istenmektedir.

Bu durum sendika kurma hakkının ve örgütlenme özgürlüğünün açık şekilde ihlali anlamına gelmektedir.

Sağlık ve sosyal hizmetler alanında tüm bu koşullara rağmen  kararlılıkla mücadelemizi sürdürmekteyiz.

İbrahim KARA

PSI