Social Dialogue as a Tool to Address the Informal Economy in Turkey (TUR/05/M01/EEC)

Desk Officer:

This project builds on the ILO work undertaken in 2004-05 in Turkey in line with the follow-up to the 2002 ILC resolution concerning tripartism and social dialogue. During this initial phase, representatives of social partners and government came together to address the priority issue of "Employment Promotion and Addressing Unregistered Employment".

The main focus of the programme can be summarized as "using improved social dialogue to develop strategies aimed at increasing registered employment and reducing the prevalence of unregistered employment". According to estimates, about one in three workers in urban areas and three in four in rural areas are not registered in Turkey, which prevents implementation of labour laws and which represents a major obstacle in coping with the EU social legislation.

The Project addresses the issue of unregistered work at national and local levels. The launching conference in March 2006, attended among other hosts by Mr. Vladimir Spidla, the EU Social Affairs, Employment and Equal Opportunities Commissioner. It adopted a tripartite declaration in which ILO constituents in Turkey declared their determination to join the efforts in combating informality. Nevertheless, the main focus of the Project is on the local level, mainly in three Turkish provinces: Bursa, Corum, and Gaziantep.

The Project envisages 10 activities in total, some of which also involve experts and partners from other EU Member States and candidates countries. This multinational dimension enables the exchange of experiences and learning from similar projects outside of Turkey.

The Project definitively contributes to better understanding of the causes of unregistered work in Turkey and improved substantially tripartite cooperation at the level of the three provinces concerned. It also has impact on national policies in various areas, including freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively. It also influences the institutional framework of social dialogue, as it revitalizes discussion about the functioning of national tripartite bodies. On the basis of the Project, the Regulation on Provincial Employment Boards has been elaborated with ILO assistance, which should further strenghthen the role of social dialogue in elaborating and implementating local development and employment policies.