UNI Global Union have sent letters of support to affiliate Basisen Turkey concerning the anti-union practices of the management of Istanbul Stock Exchange (Borsa Istanbul).
Basisen is the authorized trade union organizing the employees in Borsa Istanbul and there is an established system of collective agreements regulating working conditions in this institution for 15 years. However, the management recently started to resort to unlawful practices to prevent unionisation. According to Turkish labour law, a union must represent at least 50% of all the employees in a company in order to have the authority to conclude collective agreements in that company. The management aims to end Basisen’s authority to conclude collective agreements by forcing the members to resign from Basisen and thus not to be obliged to take part in collective bargaining in the new term.
However, freedom to join trade unions and the right to organise is one of the important fundamental rights and an indispensable condition of democracy and human rights and Borsa Istanbul Corporation as a respected institution has signed the UN Global Compact, which stipulates that “businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.”
Acts of the Borsa Istanbul management are not in line with the United Nations Global Compact that is signed by the institution they represent.
UNI Global Union are therefore urging the Borsa Istanbul to respect basic labour rights and freedoms, the collective agreement and collective bargaining rights of its employees and to immediately stop pressuring members of Basisen to resign from union.
