• KESK
  
  

KESK

(KAMU EMEKCILERI SENDIKALARI KONFEDERASYONU)
CONFEDERATION OF UNIONS OF PUBLIC LABORERS

The Confederation was founded by 28 unions on December 2, 1995 in Istanbul. The board elected at the last congress on 17-18-19 August 1996 is composed of Siyami Erdem (chairman), Faysal Özcift (general secretary), Cengiz Uzuner (finance secretary), Güven Gercek (organization secretary), Cengiz Askinci (education secretary), Tayfun Isci (human rights and environment secretary), Orhan Altug (international relations secretary), Hasan Hayir (press, media and public relations secretary), Nafi Maras (legislation secretary), Fikret Dogan (collective bargaining secretary) and Hatice Pehlivanoglu (women’ rights secretary).

KESK has been a member of ICFTU since December 17-19, 1997 and ETUC since December 5, 1997.

KESK declares that its principal tenets are:

a) to adopt the standpoint of class and mass trade unionism as its basic principle;

b) to support a democratic centralist structure with emphasis on the will and initiative of its affiliates;

c) to defend the right of all workers to involve in politics and to organize politically. The confederation is independent of capital and the state, but on the side of labour in the struggles of employees. It is independent organizationally of all political parties, institutions and organizations.

d) to reject any discrimination among workers on account of their religion, language, race, political opinion, ethnic origin, sect, sex or philosophy;

e) to organize on the basis of industrial branches and to strive for the unification of several unions established in the same branch;

f) to act in solidarity and cooperation with international unions and umbrella organizations on the basis of the interests of workers;

g) to adopt inter-organizational democracy as a fundamental principle, and to pay attention in its organization to the mechanisms of direct democracy in order to allow all workers a say in the decision-making processes; to struggle against bureaucracy and liquidationism;

h) to make the finances, administration and auditing of the confederation accessible to the affiliates and their members;

i) to conduct the struggle for the rights and independent interests of all working masses on a concrete and legal basis; to struggle against any legislative and constitutional regulations restricting trade union rights and freedoms.

At the last congress it was declared that KESK would struggle against privatization of public utilities and organize a women assembly, but would not attend Economic and Social Council.

It publishes a periodical called „KESK’INSESI".