An important decision from the Supreme Court: The Supreme Court said “Stop” to employers’ cheating!
The Supreme Court put the final point in the ongoing case of jurisdiction determination of our union between the international shipping company Kühne Nagel and our union and made a precedent decision. The 9th Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals, which discussed the case, decided that any job line determination application (to determine in which line of business or sector the workers are working in) made before the majority determination application of the unions cannot be made a pending issue in terms of having a legal authority to make a collective agreement. With this precedent decision of the Supreme Court, our legal authority to make a collective agreement with Kühne Nagel has been finalized.
In a decision given by the 9th Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court in 2021 (E. 2021/3116 – K. 2021/8189); it have been ruled that any application for determination of the sector or line of business, which was made before the majority determination application of the unions, would be a pending issue in terms of signing CBAs. Employers started to use this decision of the 9th Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court as a trump card to prevent union work in the workplaces. The employers, who were aware of the union work in their workplaces, started a litigation process that would last for years by applying for the determination of the line of business. Thus, they prevented the unions from obtaining collective bargaining authority by gaining a majority.
Majority cases, which were supposed to be completed in a short time, were dragged out for years due to determination of the sector cases. Meanwhile, employers were either sacking almost all of the union members or seeking ways to get rid of the union by making them resign under pressure, blackmails and threats. The employer of Kühne Nagel Transport tried to prevent our union from obtaining a collective bargaining power by using the same method.
Our union achieved the legal majority in the international transport company Kühne Nagel on 25.11.2020. Kühne Nagel’s employer filed a lawsuit for the annulment of the majority determination of our union. The company demanded that the case for determination of the line of business that he had filed before be made a pending matter and that the majority determination in favor of our union be cancelled.
This fraudulent method, which employers have now made a habit of and used frequently, become invalid after the 9th Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals changed its opinion in the case of objection to the majority determination between our union and Kühne Nagel Transport Company. Thus, the collective bargaining authority of our union has been acknowledged and the struggle for organization in Kühne Nagel has resulted in success.
Efforts by the Kühne Nagel employer to extend the process of unionization have been unsuccessful. It has been proven once again that the employer cannot prevent our struggle of unionization by dismissing the workers who lead the union work, with unfair objections and lawsuits. Therefore, in accordance with this decision of the high court, collective bargaining negotiations will begin soonly.
As TÜMTİS, we will continue to fight with all our members to provide Kühne Nagel Transport workers an unionized workplace, collective agreements, job security, better wages and social rights.
We respectfully inform the public. (09.06.2022)
TÜMTİS CENTRAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS