1. COLLECTIVE LABOR LAW

2. The Collective Labor Law and the Related Regulations Everyone in Turkey has the freedom to work and make contracts in any field. Employees and the employers have the right to establish trade unions and higher organizations in order to protect and develop their economic and social rights and benefits in work relations of their members without having to obtain prior permission.

3. To become a member of, or to quit the membership of, trade unions is free. No one can be forced to be a member of a trade union, to stay as a member or to quit being a member of a trade union. However, employees and employers cannot have memberships in more than one trade union at the same time. Working at any workplace is not dependent on being, or not being, a member of a trade union.

4. Decrees Related to the Establishment and Activities of Labor Unions Workers' labor unions can be established by workers who work in workplaces in a work branch with the objective of engaging in activities throughout the country in this work branch. Similarly, employers' unions can be established by the employers who engage in activities throughout the country in a work branch. Public employers' unions do not have to be established by public employers in the same work branch and they do not have to be engaged in the same work branch.

5. Legal Regulations Related with Collective Labor Agreements, Strikes and Lockouts In Turkey, collective labor agreements cannot be for less than one year or more than three years. The duration of the collective labor agreements, after the agreement is signed, cannot be extended, shortened or terminated by the parties before the end of the period of the agreement. As an exception, the duration of a collective labor agreement can be less than one year in case it will be implemented for a job lasting less than one year. Only the members of the workers' labor unions who are a party to the collective labor agreements can benefit from the agreements.

6. Collective labor agreements can also include decrees that regulate the mutual rights and obligations of the parties, implementation and supervision of the agreement and means to be applied for the solution of disputes. A collective labor agreement can be valid for one or more workplaces in the same work branch. However, it is not possible to make and implement more than one collective labor agreement in a workplace within the same period. Collective labor agreements can also include decrees that regulate the mutual rights and obligations of the parties, implementation and supervision of the agreement and means to be applied for the solution of disputes. A collective labor agreement can be valid for one or more workplaces in the same work branch. However, it is not possible to make and implement more than one collective labor agreement in a workplace within the same period.

7. Collective Labor Agreements, the Right to Strike and Lockout Workers and employers have the right to make collective labor agreements with the objective of mutually improving their economic, social and working conditions. In case of a dispute during the collective labor agreement bargaining, then the workers have the right to go on strike. The procedures, conditions, scope and exceptions of the use of the right to strike, and of the employer applying lockouts have been regulated by Collective Agreement, Strike and Lock-Out Act. The right to strike and lockout cannot be used in a manner that is in violation of the rules of goodwill, which causes damage to society and in a way to destroy the national assets.

8. In Turkey, no strikes and lockouts can be made in services such as life and property saving, funerals and burials, water, electricity, gas and lignite production for thermal power plants, production and distribution of natural gas and petroleum, banking and notary public services, and services carried out by public organizations such as fire departments, intercity highway, seaway and railroad transportation and other rail mass transit services. Furthermore, both strikes and lockouts are forbidden in Turkey in case of war or during general or partial mobilization.

9. Employers have the right to lockout and close the establishment for a temporary period of time in response to the right to strike of the labor unions. In Turkey, the number of employers who applied lockout decisions, and the number of working days lost as a result of this, have remained rather limited through the years.