TURKEY: CIVIL SERVICE STRIKE LOOMS NOVEMBER 25

UNCLAS ANKARA 001680 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV AMGT MOPS ECON TU SUBJECT: TURKEY: CIVIL SERVICE STRIKE LOOMS NOVEMBER 25 REF: ANKARA 1562 ¶1. Two of Turkey's three civil service labor union confederations, KESK and KAMU-SEN, continue to make preparations for a civil service strike on November 25 to protest the lack of a legal framework for them to collectively bargain or strike. The confederations still cannot predict the impact of the strike. ¶2. Namzi Guzel, president of the Transportation Workers Union, which is part of KAMU-SEN and is participating in the strike, gave us his assessment on how transportation will be affected. On air transportation, he said that his union wrote letters to 200 airline companies warning that the union plans a work stoppage on November 25. Guzel expects that ground services and services to park planes at gates will be impacted, but that the airline companies will probably take measures to increase private sector staff to keep these operating. He suspects that most flights probably will be running behind schedule, though not canceled. ¶3. On rail transportation, Guzel said the industry is completely organized, and he can confirm that "no trains" will be running on that day. On maritime transportation and ports, because Mersin port is privatized, the union will not affect operations there. However, in all other ports cargo transportation probably will be slowed but not brought to a standstill. Passenger transportation by ships will not be affected because that is not a public sector industry. ¶4. A representative from Kamu-Sen said that while they cannot predict the overall impact of the strike, they expected that the tax collection and public education (though not private education) sectors will be completely halted. Hospitals' emergency units and fire departments will not be affected, we are being told, even though they are staffed by public sector employees. JEFFREY "Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.s gov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turkey"