The AKP has taken a step to relieve the capitalists who have lost the cases sued by the workers and were sentenced to pay compensation for thousands of Turkish Liras: A new bill on labour courts introduced by the ruling AKP was adopted in the Committee on Justice. With this law, the direct judicial remedy in labour disputes is closing. It will become obligatory to go to the 'arbitrageur' before the independent labour courts in the case of industrial conflicts, according to the bill. Thus, labour courts will be bypassed and the workers will not be able to seek their rights.
With the new bill, the "arbitration as a cause of action" institution introduces to the law for the first time, while it becomes obligatory to go to the arbitrageur before filing a lawsuit in the case of disputes under the arrangement.
IT WILL BE OBLIGATORY TO GO TO THE ARBITRAGEUR BEFORE THE COURT!
"Appeal to the arbitrageur" will be sought as a cause of action in the lawsuits filed by the workers regarding an action of debt, compensatory indemnity and reemployment. For the obligation to appeal arbitrageur, indemnity and debt claims will have to stem from employment relations. With this arrangement, workers will have to appeal to the arbitrageur before filing a lawsuit in actions for compensation such as severance and notice payment, or in wage action lawsuits such as overtime work and annual leave.
If the disputes are not solved by the arbitrageur, then they will be able to be appealed to the labour court.
ARBITRATION BUREAUS WILL BE ESTABLISHED
Arbitration bureaus will be established within the courthouses approved by the Ministry in order to inform those appealed to the arbitration, to employ the arbitrageur and to officiate other duties assigned by law.
KADİR SEV: "THIS BILL MEANS PRIVATISATION OF JUDICIARY"
The retired commissioner of audits and soL news columnist Kadir Sev has made evaluations on the law adopted in the Committee on Justice.
Stating that this bill means privatisation of judiciary, Kadir Sev said: "The government is privatising 90 percent of labour law. The labour law in Turkey will be left to the decision of those who are called the 'arbitrageurs' whose identities are quite uncertain. The members of this 'arbitration' committee are ambiguous. Who will be members of the board? It is definitely unclear. They will establish bureaus within the courthouses and assign some individuals that we do not know under the current circumstances. A system is establishing in which capitalists and employers will be able to dominate in the arbitration bureaus within the courthouses."
"WORKERS WILL BE FORCED TO SUBMIT THE OFFERS OF THE ARBITRAGEUR"
Reminding that the appeal to the arbitrageur has become obligatory, Sev stated that "workers will be economically suppressed. With this bill, workers have to appeal to these bureaus before going to law. If the worker and employer reach an agreement at arbitration level, arbitrageur fee will be equally paid by the worker and employer. This fee can be easily paid by the employer, but it might be a significant amount for a worker. What if the worker does not compromise with the employer? Then, the worker will resort to the jurisdiction and the issue will not be solved for a few years. Besides, there is no a guarantee that the worker will win the case. At that rate, the worker will have to submit the offers of the arbitrageur. Why? Because the arbitrageur fee is being paid from the budget on condition that this amount will be charged from the losing party in the future…In other words, if the worker loses a lawsuit at the court, the arbitrageur fee will be also received from the worker. This is so important due to two reasons: Firstly, it is not certain that the worker will win the lawsuit against the employer. Secondly, even if the worker wins the lawsuit, getting his/her due might take years. The worker, who is already impoverished, cannot risk all this and unavoidably submits the offers of the arbitrageur."
"JUDICIAL REMEDY AGAINST THE CAPITALISTS IS BEING ABROGATED DE FACTO"
Underlining that the period of direct resorting to the jurisdiction will be abrogated with the new bill, Kadir Sev noted that newly adopted law was prepared according to the demands and needs of the capitalists, and added: "The worker will have to appeal to the arbitrageur; if and only there is no compromise with the employer, he/she will have a chance to file a lawsuit. So, the worker will not be able to directly file a lawsuit against the employer. In the preamble of the bill, it is written that ‘it is estimated that over 90 percent of labour disputes will result in compromise’. If this estimation is realistic, it means that the government aims to repeal the legal remedy de facto."
"IT IS FORBIDDEN TO DISCLOSE THE TALKS HAVING IN THE ARBITRAGEUR"
Saying that the process of arbitration will be confidentially carried out, Kadir Sev continued his speech that "the second problem of this bill is that the Supreme Court of Appeal remedy is closed to the decision of district courts. The final decision will be made by the regional courts of justice. With this way, the period of legal precedent in Labor Act comes to an end. Due to de facto abrogation of judicial remedy, legal rules will develop through the interpretations of employers and arbitrageur rather than the judicial decisions. Yet, these interpretations will not be revealed, because the process of arbitration is confidentially carried out according to law. In the preamble of the bill, it is highlighted that if the confidentiality rules are not met by the parties, privacy will be disclosed and the parties will suffer. Therefore, it is planned to be punished those disclosing the talks having in the arbitrageur. It is free to seize the worker’s right to leave, overtime pay, notice and severance pay; but if you disclose the talks, things look bad for you!
"RELYING UPON ARBITRATION FOR JUSTICE IS UNAVAILING"
Speaking that the worker will be in the tendency to submit the offers of the arbitrageur due to economic conditions, Kadir Sev finished his speech that ‘‘relying upon arbitration for justice in an environment that the parties are not in equal conditions is unavailing. If there is no balance, it means that minimum condition of the arbitrageur’s impartiality has not been enforced, and the prevention of this negativity with the bans and punishments imposed to the laws is impossible. Even if the worker is more likely to get his/her due when s/he resorted to the jurisdiction, the worker will not prefer the judicial remedy due to economic burden. When the worker compromised with the employer via arbitration, s/he will have an amount of money in the new order with the bill. Thus, the worker will have to choose the compromise rather than being paid the high amount of compensation by the employer in the long run. The exact name of this work is the imposition of the plundering order as if aiming a so-called solution for the labour disputes. These realities are of course concealed in the bill. It is presented as if both the interests of the employer and the worker.’’
As the anti-labor policies of the AKP government uninterruptedly continue, working class in Turkey has faced new attacks every passing day following the declaration of the state of emergency. Ten thousands of public labourers have been dismissed due to government’s statutory decrees. The labourers’ rights have been further deteriorated with the regulations such as the compulsory individual pension insurance (BES), Wealth Fund and new incentives given to the capitalists from the unemployment fund. On the other hand, occupational murders increased %14, and at least 1200 workers have lost their lives since the state of emergency on July 20, 2016. The AKP had also passed a bill by the Parliament last May to propose a law granting private employment offices to ‘hire’ workers which mean the enslavement of the labourers under completely insecure working conditions and deprived of their rights.
