Labour Law Reform in Turkey in the 2000s: The Devil is Not Just in the Detail But Also in the Legal Texts

Abstract

This study examines how the balance of power has changed between the parties in industrial relations in the area of individual labour law in Turkey in the 2000s. It analyses the new Labour Act of Turkey with regard to changes in the notion of subordination and changing working conditions. It presents a definition of ‘the new employer’ – as the representative of the flexible company.

Motivational diversity and the sense of ill-treatment back home among the UK’s migrant workers from Turkey: A cross-intersectional approach

“…Fear was felt not only by divorced women but also by gay and lesbian respondents that they would be subjected to physical attacks (Luibheid, 2004), domestic violence or workplace bullying if they returned to Turkey. Due to poor legal protection, the motivations behind migration are further boosted by ill-treatment within the spheres of unfair dismissal and inadequate social security (Özdemir and Özdemir, 2006).…”

“…Policy deficiencies are much criticised since legal loopholes provide a feeding ground for ill-treatment (Akan, 2012). Legislative shortfalls and the lack of effective sanctions are particularly reproached in relation to health and safety, job security and social services (Özdemir and Özdemir, 2006). The weakness of regulatory enforcements to prevent verbal or physical attacks against vulnerable groups/minorities can also be mentioned (Kaya and Baldwin, 2004).…”

Social Classes and the Neo-Liberal Poverty Regime in Turkey, 2002–2011

“…In this context, any evaluation of the AKP's balance sheet will reveal the following: (i) public administration has been radically transformed by successive "reforms" (Oğuz 2008); (ii) a massive privatisation programme has been implemented and the revenue generated by privatisation was unprecedented when compared to the previous phases of neo-liberalism (Öniş 2011); (iii) a series of independent and autonomous regulatory boards for strategic sectors were established and exempted from the direct surveillance and inspection of the central government and the parliament; (iv) amendments to the Labour Act allowed increased subcontracting, increased flexibility and decreased unionisation (Özdemir andYücesan-Özdemir 2006, Çelik 2015); (iv) policies related to agriculture have resulted in the contraction of that sector, with Turkey drifting away from agricultural self-sufficiency (Aydın 2010;Keyder and Yenal 2011). This last change has generated a surplus population in rural areas which has begun flowing to urban centres, and enlarged the urban reserve army of labour.…”

The political economy of Turkish Conservative Democracy as a governmental strategy of industrial relations between Islamism, neoliberalism and social democracy

“…However, the leading trade union and civil service confederations, along with the Islamist Felicity Party (FP) and the Kemalist social democratic Republican People's Party (RPP), have denounced the Justice and Development Party (JDP) for implementing a neoliberal IR regime. 1 The vast majority of studies of Turkish IR also vehemently denounce the JDP for enforcing restrictions on the right to organize, strike and bargain collectively and for failing to implement the democratization reforms required by the EU acquis and ILO conventions (see, for example, Gülmez, 2010;Özdemir and Özdemir, 2006;Yıldırım, 2006;Yıldırım and Çalış, 2008). The JDP has, however, enacted constitutional reform and made amendments to the trade union and collective bargaining acts, which introduced a number of emancipatory regulations in regard to individual and collective trade union freedoms.…”