The Turkish government exposes the local trade union movement and other civilian organisations to completely unfair and undemocratic violations and abuses. The Danish government and the employers should therefore follow suit and refrain from attending this conference to be hosted by the ILO in October. This is LO?s plea to the Permanent ILO-Committee where the government and the social partners coordinate the tripartite cooperation in the ILO.
– The Turkish government has used the failed coup as a pretext to clamp down on political opponents, and this has affected the trade union movement. Union members have been jailed for normal, democratic activities or for participating in protests, exercising their free speech on social media or for campaigning. This is totally unacceptable and we need to protest against it, says LO-Vice President Nanna Højlund.
Raids and armed attacks against trade unionists
As an expression of our solidarity with the Turkish trade union movement, the Vice President participated, on behalf of LO, at the recent Congress of the union, KESK, in Ankara. KESK informed the participants of thousands of arrests of its members, raids on trade union leaders and even armed attacks on union leaders.
Due to the serious violations of basic workers’ rights and human rights violations against both trade unionists and other political opponents from the international workers? organisations, the ITUC and the ETUC have called on their members to stay away from the conference in Istanbul.
– It is a big decision to decline an invitation to such a tripartite event, but we have no doubt it?s the right decision. We will not contribute to legitimizing the Erdogan-led government?s crack down on political opponents, critics and union activists. We sincerely hope that the Danish government and the employers will agree with us and decline their invitations too, says Nanna Højlund.
Members of the press can contact LO at +45 26 11 97 10