Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

Prepared by the Head of the 22^nd Law Department of the Court of Cassation, its members and audit judges, printed in cooperation with the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) and the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TÜRK-İŞ), the “Labor Law and Supreme Court Implementation” book was presented at a meeting at the Supreme Court of Appeals.

TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu thanked Justice Minister Abdülhamit Gül, Supreme Court President İsmail Rüştü Cirit, TÜRK-İŞ President Ergün Atalay, Supreme Court of Appeals 22^nd Law Department Head Seracettin Göktaş and his team for their contributions to the preparation of the book.

Stating that the book of Labor Law and Application of the Supreme Court of Appeals is a great work which emerged for the first time as a result of the union of workers, employers and members of the judiciary in Turkey, Hisarciklıoğlu said, “Labor Law No. 4857 has greatly harmonized our country with EU norms and ILO standards in the field of labor. The application of our new Labor Law for nearly 17 years has brought many innovations to our working life. On the other hand, some new disputes for workers and employers have emerged. As the business community, we don't want legislation and business jurisdiction to protect anyone. Not the employer, not the worker. We want it to be on the side of rights and justice. We want it to be at an equal distance. We want the Scales of Justice to act equally on both sides. The important thing is the balanced preparation and fair implementation of labor legislation. Certainly employers do not want there to be an injustice and an extortion of workers' rights.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that they consider the judiciary's case studies very important for the protection of labor peace and stressed that the decisions of the Relevant Law Offices of the Court of Cassation fill an important gap in the elimination of the implementation problems of the new Labor Law.

Hisarcıklıoğlu noted that the decisions of the Supreme Court of Appeals' made by the Legal Departments overlooking business cases, has been brought together for the first time addressing a notable issue, “The 22^nd Law Office shall give our President, members and audit judges all amendments and justifications of the Labor Code, most importantly, to article 7, 9 and 22. They brought together the decisions made by the law offices and the case law. The Labor Law and the Supreme Court Application Book will fill a very important gap.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu said that the publication of the book together as TÜRK-İŞ and TOBB is very valuable in terms of social dialogue.

The Supreme Court of Appeals 22. Seracettin Göktaş, head of the Legal Department, did not demand a royalty fee for the book, Hisarcıklıoğlu noted, “But we didn’t feel right for their precious efforts to go unrewarded, especially with the TÜRK-İŞ President. With their approval, in order to help our heroic Mehmetkiks, who without a moment’s doubts give their lives for the peace of our country, TOBB and TÜRK-İŞ, to donate to the Mehmetcik Foundation. We'll present the donation cheque to them momentarily.”

After the meeting, Hisarcıklıoğlu presented a donation cheque of 100,000 TRY to Retired Major General Yaşar Bal, General Manager of the Mehmetcik Foundation.