The Turkish government has blocked a planned strike by mineworkers at the state-owned mining giant Eti Maden, invoking “national security” concerns just hours before industrial action was set to begin.
The strike, organized by IndustriALL Global Union affiliate Maden-İş and scheduled for 1 August, was halted through Presidential Decree No. 10150, signed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 30 July and published in the Official Gazette. The decree postpones the strike for 60 days, a legal maneuver that effectively serves as a ban.
“This is completely unacceptable,” said IndustriALL assistant general secretary Kemal Özkan. “Yet another strike in Türkiye has been banned using the same method, despite repeated criticism from the International Labour Organization (ILO). We stand in full solidarity with Turkish mineworkers in their rightful struggle for fair and legitimate demands.”
Although officially labelled as a “postponement,” Turkish labour law mandates that if no resolution is reached within the 60-day period, disputes are automatically referred to compulsory arbitration. This process strips workers of their right to strike, imposing a binding settlement without further negotiation.
The dispute at Eti Maden is part of a broader conflict affecting more than 600,000 public sector workers, who have been in collective bargaining talks for over seven months. The government’s wage proposal — a 24% increase for the first half of 2025, 11% for the second half, followed by 10% and 6% for 2026 — was rejected by Maden-İş and national trade union centre Türk-İş as inadequate, especially given Türkiye’s soaring inflation.
The Erdoğan administration has a long history of using “postponement” decrees to suppress strikes in strategic sectors, a practice that has drawn repeated international condemnation. The ILO has previously criticized Türkiye for violating Conventions 87 and 98, which protect freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.
Read related article on the IndustriAll website here.
