Employment Termination and Job Security Under New Turkish Labour Act

Abstract

The new Turkish Labour Act became effective on 10 June 2003. Its adoption was a major and innovative event in labour law and industrial relations trying to keep abreast of the Community acquis and other developments in the field. Bringing labour legislation into line with the Community acquis, together with the aims of promotion of more and better employment and more qualitative approach to industrial relations, and enhancement of social dialogue, were the challenges for Turkey in the preparation of the new act. In June 2001, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security formed a tripartite commission composed of nine university professors, three appointed by the Government, three by the Turkish Confederation of Employers' Association (TISK) and one by each of the three labour confederations (Turk-Is, Hak-Is, Disk). This commission had the task of preparing a new Labour Act. Although the social partners declared in writing that they would not object to the proposed draft, the Minister of Labour and Social Security consulted management and labour in February and March 2003 on the content of the proposed draft completed by the Commission in June 2002. The draft was assessed at several meetings with the participation of social partners and apart from two articles there was consensus. In spite of this, the workers' confederations started severely criticizing the draft following its submission to the legislature. Criticisms were concentrated on job security, flexitime and atypical types of employment. In the meantime, the Job Security Act, enacted in August 2002, became effective on 15 March 2003.' This Act was modelled on the ILO Convention concerning Termination of Employment at the Initiative of the Employer (C 158, 1982)2 ratified by Turkey in 1994. It increased protection against dismissal, amending the relevant provisions of the abrogated Labour Act and the extant Unions Act. Job Security Act was the last act enacted by the legislature prior to the November 2002 general elections. Management circles stated that its enactment had a populist attitude and criticized the act severely for having gone too far in protecting the workers against dismissal and placing employers under the burden of proof. Employers also demanded regulation of flexitime and flexible forms of employment. For reasons of maintaining equilibrium between management and labour, the legislature wanted to enact the Labour Act in March 2003 but, seeing its impossibility, it postponed the effective date of the Job Security Act to 30 June 2003 by Act no. 4828 and suspended its discussions on the