Syndicate Is Not A Virus

Let's get to know Yasin Sevgili. When and how did their paths cross with Öz Transport İş Union?

I was born in 1975. In 2003, I graduated from Uludağ University, Department of Econometrics. I am doing a Master of Business Administration at Istanbul Sebahattin Zaim University.

Between 2003-2009, I worked in the private sector as Finance Officer and Operations Manager, in the transport, food, agriculture and livestock sectors. I worked as Cargo Data Control Chief at Turkish Airlines between 2009-2013, and those were the years when I also met with trade unionism.

Between 2013-2017, I served as the Secretary General of Hava-İş Union. Those years when I started to work as a Professional Trade Union took me on the same road and brought me together with the Öz Taşımacılık İş Union, which operates in the Transportation Business. For about two years, I have been continuing my career as the Istanbul Provincial President of the Öz Transport İş Union. I am married and have three children.

Could you introduce the Self Transport Work Union? Is there a specific reason for you to work with Self Transport Work Union?
Established on November 21, 2012, Öz Transport İş Union, which operates in the Transportation Business line No.15 under Hak İş Confederation and celebrated its 8th anniversary last week, has proven its age in a short time and is in its own line of business with 2020 thousand 21 members according to July 867 data. 2. As a union, it is a Union that moves forward with confidence into the future.

Having observed the fact that unions operating in the transportation business line in our country could not bring together Air, Land, Sea and Railway employees on a broad basis, their willingness to exceed the understanding that was satisfied with some of them made Öz Transport İş Union different from other unions. I am happy to be in the Öz Transport İş Union family in order to live and live this difference.

How do you evaluate the perspective of working people and employers towards Trade Unions?

I can say that the consciousness of organized workers is perceived better today than in the past, when it is overshadowed by political ideologies, but that the world order of Capitalism is globalized and the awareness of our people, who are trying to be made the goal of consumer society while globalizing, has decreased in terms of union membership and the benefits of union organization.

Of course, in addition to the macro effects that affect this approach, there are also local conditions in micro sense.

The dire situations in which employees who are afraid of being a union member, who think that they will lose their job and be put on the door when they become a union member, and who are a target to be a target because they cannot achieve unity and solidarity in their workplace, and who have taken the responsibility for the organization that are damaged, even if they are a little more courageous in this regard

Unions that were founded on paper with the coming together of 7 people, but continued their existence by driving both the Employers who produce employment and our laborer brothers into chaos and leaving the square after getting some benefit from there, in places where they disregard their principles and the determination and intention of being a Civil Society Organization.

Despite the fact that there are 14 million 251 thousand 655 registered workers in our country and only 1 million 946 thousand 165 of them are unionized, instead of organizing non-unionized employees, those who do not know anything other than to break the organized workplaces from their existing unions and to break the unity and solidarity of the working population, which is the target of union organization.

Those who, despite the will of the union lords and their members, go out of their hearts and tarnish their Union's name in a delirium of dominating them in the authority to represent them.

Many problems such as the inability to implement regulations in the field, which are still in need of solution, in the legal legislation that includes the issues of business lines and the right to be a union member, can have negative effects on the perspective of the employees on the unions.

What kind of steps do you take as the Self Transport Labor Union against all these negative conditions you have expressed? What makes Self Transport Work Union different?

I would like to answer your question with the words of our President Mustafa Toruntay, who was selected as the Trade Union of the Year in 2019. He says, "Union is not a virus."

In the meantime, I salute all those who have contributed to the Covid-19 epidemic that has affected our country and the world for a year, especially our healthcare workers, and those who follow the measures taken to protect both themselves and the society. Like everyone else, I look forward to the day when the efforts will be rewarded.
Returning to the answer to your question, the Self Transport İş Union has adopted the principle of being a union member and showing the value of being an organized employee, establishing trust to eliminate distrust in unions, conquering hearts and touching people while doing so.

It has demonstrated this principle with its Social Unionism approach and its activities that crown this understanding, and it continues to do so.

In addition to signing a Collective Bargaining Agreement at the workplaces we have been authorized, we have provided personal accident insurance for each of our members for the past 8 years. We donated 4970 pieces of quarter and gram gold at the weddings of our members and their children's circumcision. We contributed to the education of our members' children studying at the University by providing 2 million 65 thousand TL scholarships. We donated 110 thousand TL in cash to 200 members in need for different reasons. We presented cologne, candy and Turkish delight to all our members on every Ramadan and Sacrifice Feasts, New Year's gifts in the New Year, and various gifts to our female members on March 8, International Women's Day. With the understanding of social unionism, we became one of the family by organizing picnics with the participation of our members' spouses and children in each city during the summer months.

We provide lawyer support in cases of accidents and similar situations during work. The institutions that we have agreements with in education, health, tourism and similar fields provide special discounts to our members. We are always with our members from birth to wedding, from health to death.

How did the pandemic process affect the Öz Transport İş Union and its members?

Of course, we've also comply with all citizens of the Republic of Turkey as priorities of our state Covidien-19 precision to prevent the spread of the decisions and measures they have taken the name. We postponed our meetings with broad participation. We held some of our meetings and trainings over the internet. We have endeavored to show our sensitivity as an example to all our organizational structure and our members.

We provided the opportunity to work from home for our staff over the age of 65 and with chronic diseases.

By applying mask, distance and cleaning measures, we came together with our members in limited numbers and times when necessary. We followed the compliance of disinfection procedures, quarantine processes and short work programs at workplaces together. We made contacts with the employer and their representatives to temporarily close the environments where positive cases increase.

In Istanbul alone, a workplace was temporarily closed three times for 14 days, and while all of these were happening, we were with our members.

During the pandemic period, Cargo Transportation transaction volume increased 1,5 to 2 times in many companies. We were on the field again when our Union had to meet with new employees who had to lend a hand due to the new employment made to meet this increase and the employment contributed by new investors who entered the sector in this period.

We made a decision as a first in Turkey, where 19 positive cases due to the onlookers Covidien-General and the Chairman of the Board of Directors have received from our members.

With the wish and slogan of “Let a Bite from us”, we leave the food parcels we have prepared to our Covid-19 positive members to make them feel that we are with them even if we cannot approach them due to quarantine. Until now, we have provided food parcels to our 1950 members.

Like all our activities, we are happy to be a pioneer for this to be an example and to become widespread.
We hope these numbers will not increase, but in any case, we did not leave our members alone in any regard. We will never leave it alone with the awareness of Social Responsibility.

Finally, what message would you like to give Employers and Employees?

We all know the contribution of labor to capital, and the contribution of capital to labor, and where both are indispensable for each other, let's be a mortar with our union, let's integrate it, let's integrate, happier, happier, safer and stronger tomorrows together.

We always keep our doors open with our understanding of trade unionism that leaves its mark and social responsibility awareness.

With my best regards.

Yasin Dear
Istanbul Provincial President of Öz Transport Work Union