Öz Sağlık İşçileri Sendikası
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING ACTIVITIES OF OUR UNION
Article 5 of our Union’s Statute suggests;
1) To conduct collective bargaining negotiations and sign collective labour agreements,
2) To apply to relevant authorities which would be mediators, arbitration boards or judicial bodies during the collective bargaining negotiations.
ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ Trade Union carries out collective bargaining processes with a transparent, democratic, participatory and inclusive approach by effectively operating social dialogue mechanisms.
At the present, 37 Collective Labour Contracts (CLCs) signed by our union cover all of our members counting more than 225.000 working in the health and social services sector in 81 provinces and districts across Türkiye.
These collective labour agreements were concluded with 2 ministries which are the Turkish Ministry of Health, the Turkish Ministry of Family and Social Services, 25 state universities such as the Ankara University, the Istanbul University, 5 private enterprises, 2 municipalities and 3 other public institutions.
In Türkiye, on behalf of over 600.000 employees working in the Turkish public sector, collective bargaining negotiations are conducted with the aim of concluding a comprehensive collective bargaining agreement called the “Public Framework Protocol” (KÇP) between labour union confederations and the public authority.
KÇP stands for Public Collective Bargaining Agreement Framework Protocol. With this protocol which is signed every 2 years under the coordination of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the framework of the wages and other social benefits of the employees working in the Turkish public sector institutions and enterprises are determined.
The labour unions in question are the HAK-İŞ Trade Union Confederation (HAK-İŞ) of which our Syndicate is a member (an affiliation), and the Turkish Labour Union Confederation (TÜRK-İŞ), while the Turkish Heavy Industry and Service Sector Public Employers’ Union (TÜHİS), The Local Administrations Public Employer Union (MİKSEN), the Local Governments Public Employer Union (YERELSEN) act on behalf of the public authority.
TÜHİS, MİKSEN and YERELSEN are the umbrella organisations of which public sector employers such as ministries, universities, general directorates, regulatory and supervisory institutions, special provincial administrations are members.
In the public collective bargaining negotiations, which are carried out with TÜHİS, the HAK-İŞ Confederation delegation is chaired by Mr. Devlet SERT who is both the HAK-İŞ Deputy President and the ÖZ SAĞLIK-İŞ Trade Union President for the period 2025-2026.
This image belongs to a bilateral collective labour contract which was signed on 25 September 2025 between our union and the Tekirdağ Namik Kemal University Rectorship to improve wage and working conditions our members which are health workers in the said state university. The relevant collective labour contract was signed by Mr. Devlet Sert, President of our Union and Prof. Dr. Gülsüm Özkan, Vice-Rector of Tekirdag Namik Kemal University.
OUR FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES CONCERNING THE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AND COLLECTIVE LABOUR CONTRACTS
First priority of our Syndicate is to inform and consult workers at every stage of the collective bargaining process.
We participate in both consultation meetings and negotiations with employers together with our representatives and a small group of our members which are sample of the workers.
During the collective bargaining process, workers are regularly informed about the progress of collective bargaining negotiations through our representatives which are present at the related meeting with the employer before or after each meeting. It enables to inform those workers/our members about every stage of the ongoing collective bargaining process.
This information clearly states and marks which issues are discussed at the collective bargaining table, which stage they are at, what progress has been achieved and what problems are encountered.
Informing workers and consulting them are conducted through various methods and different communication channels such as meetings, newsletters, e-mails, surveys, workplace visits, face-to-face meetings, social media interactions and feedbacks.
For example; during the collective bargaining process carried out with the Ministry of Health in November and December of 2024, our union has received around 50,000 demands via 32,658 e-mails from our members working at the aforementioned public institution.
In November and December of 2024, during the collective bargaining process carried out with the Ministry of Family and Social Services, workers working in the aforementioned public institution sent 2,604 e-mails including 5,200 demands to our head office.
Subsequently, we hold meetings with our representatives (shop stewards) at the workplaces in order to prepare our collective labour contract drafts and proposals to be presented to employers.
Throughout the collective bargaining process, draft CLAs are revised in accordance with the feedback from our members.
Thanks to this transparent and participatory approach, workers are sure that their demands, expectations, priorities and interests are brought directly to the collective bargaining negotiation table.
In brief, our labour organisation demonstrates an accountable and transparent attitude throughout the entire collective bargaining process by clearly responding to all questions of workers and employers or their umbrella organisations such as TÜHİS, MİKSEN, YERELSEN and actively listening to their demands and expectations.
Eventually, all stages of the collective bargaining process are concluded when consensus be reached by vast majority of our members working in that workplace/enterprise, thus the collective labour contract draft text becomes ready to be signed. In this way, the collective bargaining process is managed and finalised in a participatory, democratic, inclusive and transparent manner.