Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 353, March 2009

Case No 2537 (Türkiye) - Complaint date: 28-MAR-06 - Closed

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 283. The Committee last examined this case at its March 2008 meeting [see 349th Report, paras 291–297]. On that occasion, the Committee requested the Government to take all necessary measures to ensure that the lost membership of Yapi-Yol Sen (due to the closure of the Directorate General of Rural Services and the transfer of its staff to the municipalities of Istanbul and Kocaeli, which led to a change of the branch under which trade unions may be legally established and the automatic termination of trade union membership and the check-off system) is immediately restored and the check-off system reinstated. The Committee also expressed the hope that the Council of State, further to the appeal lodged by the complainant organization in the present case, would take into consideration the principles of freedom of association embodied in Convention No. 87 when it issues its decision.
2. 284. In a communication dated 1 September 2008, the Government indicates that the list of branches of service of public servants’ trade unions has been amended (amendment published in the Official Gazette of 2 August 2005, No. 25894, and annexed to the “Regulation on the Determination of Branches of Services of Public Organizations and Agencies covered by the Public Servants’ Unions Act”) so that the phrase “Directorate General of Rural Services” was deleted. Consequently, the personnel of the Directorate General of Rural Services, who are transferred to municipalities and provincial administrations, may join a union established in the branch of service of “Local Services” and the membership fees shall not be deducted for a union which no longer has any members. The Government adds that, pursuant to the appeal filed by the complainant Yapi-Yol Sen to the General Assembly of the Administrative Dispute Chamber of the Council of State, this body issued a decision on 13 March 2008 which annulled the decision previously rendered by the Tenth Chamber of the Council of State on the ground that the previous decision rejecting the complainant’s appeal endangered the rights and interests of the appellant. The judicial process is still under way and information will be provided on the developments.
3. 285. The Committee notes with interest that the General Assembly of the Administrative Dispute Chamber of the Council of State annulled the decision previously rendered by the Tenth Chamber of the Council of State and which had rejected the appeal filed by the complainant Yapi-Yol Sen, and that the judicial process is still under way. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of the outcome and trusts that, in rendering its decision, the General Assembly of the Administrative Dispute Chambers of the Council of State will take into consideration the principles of freedom of association embodied in Convention No. 87 so that the lost membership of Yapi-Yol Sen is immediately restored and the check-off system reinstated.