Strike prohibitions in Turkish labour law

Strike is one of the combative methods employed in the resolution of collective labor disputes and constitutes an indispensable tool that enables the employee, as the weaker party to the employment contract, to exert pressure on the employer. As it contributes to the realization of workers' demands and ensures the effective functioning of the collective bargaining process, it is recognized as a fundamental right in the legal systems of many countries. However, as with every right, the right to strike cannot be considered unlimited. The guiding principle in restricting strikes should be that the right is the rule and restriction is the exception. Accordingly, strike prohibitions must be narrowly defined, and the legislator should particularly take into account the concept of "essential services." In addition to statutory prohibitions, strike postponement, as applied in practice, also effectively turns into a prohibition of strikes. In this respect, the possibility of prohibiting a strike through a single administrative decision may create serious risks for the right to strike. The structure of the High Arbitration Board and the nature of its decisions are of great importance within the scope of this study. Furthermore, the legal and criminal consequences of strikes carried out despite prohibitions or postponement decisions must be clearly determined. In this study, the strike prohibitions enacted by the legislator have been examined and evaluated within the framework of international norms, and the detrimental aspects of the regulations on strike bans and strike postponement in Turkish law have been identified. Consequently, the study seeks to answer the question of within what framework the legal regulations concerning strike prohibitions and postponement should be shaped.