The Bill on Reducing the Effects of the Outbreak on Economic and Social Life and Foreseeing Amendments to Some Laws was approved by the General Assembly of the Parliament yesterday (April 15).

 

Drafted by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) MPs and passed into law following the Parliament's approval, the law has postponed annual instalment payments to the Directorate General of State Hydraulic Works, in addition to the municipality payments postponed for 3 months.

 

With this law, dismissals will be banned for a period of three months; however, employers can now make workers take an unpaid leave without making them any payments themselves. Instead, the workers given an unpaid leave by the employer will be paid 39 lira 24 kurush (~ $5.70) per day from the unemployment insurance fund. In other words, a worker made to take unpaid leave will be paid 1,170 lira (~ $170) per month.

 

While the law also covers the ones who were dismissed after March 15 and cannot get unemployment payment, the amount to be paid to the worker will be set off from the unemployment pay to be used in the future.

 

While the article foreseeing restrictions on the right to go on a strike was omitted from the bill, the right to unionization has been suspended by postponing the grant of union authorization assessments.

 

Accordingly, instead of suspending the processes as to the collective labor agreements, the resolution of labor dispute-disagreement and strike, the law foresees a three-month extension of the periods relating to "the grant of authorization assessments, collective labor agreements, the resolution of labor dispute-disagreement as well as strike and lockout."

 

That being the case, along with the intention of preventing workers' losses of rights as to collective labor agreement and strike, their right to unionization has been halted for at least three months.