Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Türkiye (Ratification: 1951)

The Committee notes the observations of the Turkish Confederation of Employers’ Associations (TISK), communicated with the Government’s report on 20 October 2023.

Articles 1, 2(1) and 3(1)(a) and (b) of the Convention. Labour inspection in the informal economy. Following its previous comments on the activities of the labour inspectorate to address the problems in the informal economy, the Committee notes the information provided by the Government that inspections carried out between June 2020 and May 2023 identified 129 unregistered employees across 48 workplaces. The Committee notes that this represents a significant decrease in comparison with the previous years, considering that from 2010 to 2019 inspections carried out by the Directorate of Guidance and Inspection (DGI) led to the identification of 7,201 unregistered workers in 2,496 workplaces, while from 2016 to 2019, inspections conducted by the Social Security Institution (SSI) auditors detected 86,193 unregistered workers and 35,623 unregistered workplaces. The Committee notes the observation made by the TISK, which highlights that the Regulation on Labour Inspection, dated 19 April 2022 and numbered 31814, established in section 6(h), that labour inspectors shall perform audits on the basis of sectoral analyses in order to combat informal employment and to suggest necessary measures to be taken in this regard. Acknowledging the challenges faced by the Government during the reporting period, which included the COVID-19 pandemic and the February 2023 earthquakes, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the reasons for the decrease of inspections targeting the informal economy and the measures adopted or planned to increase the number of inspections in this area. In this regard, the Committee requests the Government once again to provide any statistics on workers who have been registered with the SSI, following notification by the DGI, and on cases in which workers were paid outstanding salaries resulting from their employment relationship, following labour inspections.

Article 6. Status and conditions of service of labour inspectors. Following its previous comments concerning the conditions of service of labour inspectors, the Committee notes the information provided by the Government that the Decree-Law on Amendments to Certain Laws and Decree Laws for the Regulation of Financial Rights of Public Servants published in 2011 introduced the principle of equal pay for equal work, in order to align the salaries of personnel within the same title across different institutions. The Government also reports that at the beginning of 2023, the salary of labour inspectors, tax inspectors and SSI inspectors was 21,568.38 Turkish lira (US$710), which is approximately the same as the salary of a police chief inspector. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on the conditions of service of labour inspectors, especially with regard to career prospects and employment tenure.