Our Union History

 

Öz-Sağlık İş Union was founded on 27 February 2014 in Ankara, capital city of the Republic of Türkiye.

Its full name is the ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ Health and Social Services Workers’ Union and abbreviated as ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ in Turkish language.

Our union operates in the Health and Social Services sector (line of business) numbered 17 in compliance with the Turkish legal regulations.

ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ is a pro-active union movement with more than 217 thousand members in the health and social services sector. By being a large and strong civil society organization and a leading syndicate, it has 97 branches and over 3.500 union representatives (shop stewards) throughout the country.

Consequently, at the present, ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ is the leading (the largest) in its own work branch standing for the 17-numbered health and social services sector of Türkiye as per the 6356 numbered Unions and Collective Labour Contracts Act; the second biggest among the HAK-IS Confederation affiliates and the third throughout the country by (in) number of members.

 

 

As of August 2026, the ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ Union is a huge labour movement together with 217.776 members and over 3,500 union representatives (shop stewards) at the workplace level in the health and social services sector in Türkiye as per the Turkish Official Gazette issue published on July 28th, 2026,   In other words, the ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ is 3rd biggest union together with 217.776 members. In this regard, it is leading one in the Health and Social Services sector in Türkiye.   

OUR FIRST CONGRESS AND ITS RESULT 

The ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ held its first congress (General Assembly) on April 12th, 2014 in Ankara. In this congress, all delegates unanimously accepted and decided to join the HAK-İŞ Trade Union Confederation ( www.hakis.org.tr ). In other words, the ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ is a member union (a sectorial affiliation) of HAK-İŞ Confederation which is a member of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC – www.etuc.org) at European level and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC – www.ituc-csi.org)  global level as well as an active member of the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC- https://tuac.org ) to the OECD standing for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, https://www.oecd.org/ .

The ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ is such a labour movement which is deeply bound up with all principles and values of the HAK-IS Trade Union Confederation as well as universal values such as human dignity, equality, democracy. In this sense, ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ is the bannerbearer of HAK-IS’ mission, vision, values and priorities at national and global levels.

In addition, the ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ  is one of founding members of the World Islamic Health Union (WIHU, http://www.wihu.org.tr/ ). At the present, Mr. Devlet Sert is General Secretary of the WIHU. Detailed information about relations between our union and WIHU is accessible through the OUR ACTIVITIES menu.

Since the establishment date of our union, the organization and association efforts have been intensively carried out by its executives and experts. As a result of those activities, the ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ has achieved to be entitled to signing collective agreements with employers in the Health and Social Services sector at the end of (in the) first year. Such an organisational success is the first in the Health and Social Services sector.

Mr. Devlet Sert has been elected as the the ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ President as well as Mr. Mustafa Özüpek, Mr. Emre Kocaman, Mr. Mevlüt Görgülü and Ms. Seyyide Sema Saritaş have been voted as its Executive Board Members at the Extraordinary Congress on 25 July 2015 in Ankara.

As a result of the 2nd Congress (General Assembly) of the ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ, held on 09 December 2017 in Ankara, Mr. Devlet Sert has been re-elected as the the ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ President as well as Mr. Mustafa Özüpek, Mr. Süleyman Doğan and Mrs. Tuba Gülpembelioğlu have been voted as its Executive Board Members.

As a result of the 3rd Congress (General Assembly) of the ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ Trade Union, held on 20-21 November 2021 in Ankara, Mr. Devlet Sert has been re-elected as the the ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ President as well as Mr. Mustafa Özüpek, Mr. Süleyman Doğan and Mr. Adem Yavuz have been assigned as its Executive Board Members.

Executive Board Members

As a result of the 4th (and the latest) Congress (General Assembly) of the ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ , held on 07-08 November 2025 in Ankara, Mr. Devlet Sert has been re-elected as the the ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ President as well as Mr. Muhammet Esat EYVAZ, Mr. Emre KOCAMAN, Mr. İsmail ÖZTÜRK and Mr. Fehmi AZBOY have been voted as its Executive Board Members.

 

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