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Cyprus The Work Force and Labor Unions
Nearly 70,000 Turkish Cypriots were economically active
in
1989. Unemployment was measured at about 1 percent. A
shortage of
skilled workers in some areas required the immigration of
some
foreign labor. According to government statistics,
agriculture
accounted for the largest share of employment, followed by
government (see
table 19, Appendix). These two branches of
the
economy accounted for just under half the work force. Some
Turkish
Cypriot economists have noted that both these sectors were
relatively inefficient and contained some hidden
unemployment.
Agriculture's share of the work force had slowly declined
during
the 1980s, and government's share declined by a fraction.
The
shares of other sectors rose slowly as the economy
modernized.
Turkish Cypriots enjoyed a higher standard of living
than
citizens of Turkey. The minimum wage, for example, was
higher than
on the mainland. In addition, wages rose steadily. The
chronic high
inflation led the government to use a cost of living
adjustment
(COLA) mechanism that increased all wages every three
months in
step with inflation. This policy limited or prevented real
reductions in wages. In addition, annual merit raises were
typical.
As of 1986, the last year for which figures were
available,
one-third of the work force was unionized, a large
proportion for
a developing country with a large agricultural sector. The
establishment of labor unions was free from government
interference. According to Articles 70 and 71 of the
constitution
and the Trade Unions Law, no prior permission from the
state was
necessary for the formation of trade unions. The only
legal
requirement was that a minimum of twenty persons should
come
together to establish a union. However, in cases in which
the total
number of persons active in a field was less than twenty,
but more
than three, a trade union could also be formed.
In the second half of the 1980s, there were two main
trade
union federations in the "TRNC." In addition, seventeen
independent
unions represented about one-third of the unionized
workers. The
oldest federation, the Turkish Cypriot Trade Union
Federation
(Kibris Türk çi Sendikalari Federasyonu--TÜRK-SEN) was
founded in
1954 and by the mid-1980s had about 9,300 members
belonging to
fifteen unions. This federation emphasized practical
issues as
opposed to ideology and was a member of the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the
European Trade
Union Confederation. It also maintained close ties with
the
American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial
Organization
(AFL-CIO). TÜRK-SEN was closely affiliated with the
Confederation
of Turkish Trade Unions, from which it received financial
and
technical assistance to promote job unionism in the
"TRNC."
The other major labor organization was the
Revolutionary Trade
Unions' Federation (Devrimci çi Sendikalari
Federasyonu--DEV-Is).
Founded in 1976, DEV-Is had about 4,500 members in two
unions in
1986. It was a member of the World Federation of Trade
Unions
(WFTU) and maintained close relations with similar foreign
trade
unions. A strong rival to TÜRK-SEN, DEV-Is emphasized
"ideological
unionism" and propagated leftist political ideas. DEV-Is
operated
freely in the "TRNC," although its sister union in Turkey
was
declared illegal after the 1980 military coup (and as of
1990,
despite the return to civilian rule in 1983 in Turkey, was
still
banned). To some observers, the freedom of DEV-Is was a
clear
indication that politics in the "TRNC" was not controlled
by
Turkish authorities, despite the obvious economic and
military
dependence of Turkish Cypriots on the Turkish state.
Data as of January 1991
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