Türk-Is president Mustafa Kumlu resigns

Yesterday, 2 September 2013, the president of the largest Turkish labour union confederation, Türk-Is announced his resignation from his function. Mustafa Kumlu was elected president of Türk-Is in 2007 after being member of the management committee in various functions since 1999.

In his statement, Kumlu referred to the unrest in the confederation after the 2011 general congress. In the aftermath of that congress, a coalition of 10 unions formed the ‘trade union unity platform – Sendikal Güç Birligi Platformu‘ which acts as an internal opposition platform to revive Türk-Is and change the direction of the confederation. Kumlu was generally seen as being sympathetic to the AKP government and was criticized frequently for not being tough enough against some of the government initiatives that would curb the labour unions’ power.

Meanwhile, a new member joined the management committee of Türk-Is: Eyüp Alemdar of the Koop-Is union. Ergün Atalay from the Demiryol-Is union was chosen as new president.

The new Türk-Is management committee is thus composed as follows:

Ergün Atalay (Demiryol-Is)         General President
Pevrul Kavlak (Turk-Metal)         General Secretary
Ramazan Ağar (Yol-Is)                 General Financial Secretary
Nazmi Irgat (Teksif)                     General Educational Secretary
Eyüp Alemdar (Koop-Is)             General Organisational Secretary