Birleşik Metal-İş the Turkish metals union federation and affiliated with IndustriALL Global Union has announced strike action for the metals sector for January 29. Strikers will protest the position MESS (Metal Employers’ Organization) has adopted during collective agreement negotiations. 42 companies will be hit by the strike including several multinationals such as Scheider Electric and Alstom. Even if Birleşik Metal-İş has refused to approve the employers’ proposals, two other unions have accepted them. In a context of strained social relations in Turkey, the union is hoping for international support to force businesses to yield to their demands.
The agreement currently under discussion is negotiated on behalf of members of the employers’ body (MESS) that groups most businesses in the metals sector.
Union split exacerbated. MESS presented its proposal at the beginning of the summer 2014 with its implementation set for September 2014. In September 2014, Turkish Metal union, generally considered to be the most important union in the sector with more than 169,549 members, equaling 12% of the metal sector 1.4 million total) approved the proposal.
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