Demir and Baykara v. Turkey

Civil government employees in the Republic of Turkey (defendant) formed a labor union. The union entered into a collective-bargaining agreement with a Turkish municipality regarding wages and working conditions. When the municipality violated the agreement, the union sued to enforce it. A Turkish court determined that, under domestic Turkish law, government employees were not allowed to enter into collective-bargaining agreements. The court invalidated the agreement and ordered the employees to pay back income they had received under it. Kemal Demir, a union member, and Vicdan Baykara, the union’s president (plaintiffs) filed an application with the European Court of Human Rights. Demir and Baykara alleged that Turkey’s ban on government employees forming unions violated Article 11 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, a multilateral international treaty that Turkey had joined. The parties disagreed about how to interpret Article 11, which stated that governments could place “lawful restrictions” on the right of members of “of the armed forces, of the police or of the administration of the State” to form unions. Turkey argued that because all government employees are part of a state’s administration, the plain meaning of these words allowed it to restrict the union activities of all government employees. The union argued that this wording should be interpreted in light of other treaties, including some that dealt specifically with labor issues. These other treaties distinguished between ordinary civil servants—who may unionize—and government officials who are directly involved in administering the state—whose union rights may be restricted. Turkey had ratified some but not all of these other treaties. The court considered the matter.