A report by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) released today strongly criticises the Turkish government’s failure to protect workers from exploitation and intimidation by private-sector employers and state authorities. The report says that poorly-enforced labour laws, coupled with courts which are allegedly strongly biased in favour of employers, leave the country’s workforce without protection from discrimination and largely unable to bargain collectively for decent wages and conditions.

“Turkey has an extremely poor record on labour rights, and the list of victims of anti-union harassment by the government and employers continues to grow,” said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.

The report also says that there are heavy restrictions in place on the right to organise unions. It puts forward that government manipulation of union membership figures and the common practice of threats and intimidation to stop workers joining and forming unions mean that only 5.4% of workers are covered by collective bargaining agreements.

The long-standing “practice of judicial harassment of union advocates” continues, the report argues, with another 15 women arrested and taken into custody apparently last week while their union office was “raided by police.” Many other unionists, the report claims, remain in prison, and peaceful union demonstrations are often subjected to violence by the authorities.

The report, submitted today to the World Trade Organisation’s Trade Policy Review on Turkey, also finds that women in Turkey are concentrated in labour intensive industries, such as in agriculture and informal activities which offer little security, income and social protection. Women, the ITUC says, face a considerable gender pay gap and only one out of four women participates in the formal workforce.

Shockingly the report also highlights child labour which is “a serious problem.” Even though 41% of working children are on farms, employment in agriculture is not governed by the Labour Code but by a special “Code of Obligations” that does not provide adequate protection. In the cities, many children work on the street.

To read the full ITUC report, click here.