'Foreign nationals can not be exploited as cheap labor force' - Turkish Cypriot People's Party preaches fundamental human rights of every foreign workers/students in the TRNC

The Turkish Cypriot People's Party has argued that the fundamental human rights of every worker in the TRNC whether citizens or foreigners should benefit everyone.

In a statement released by the Party, it was expressed its worries that the fundamental rights as regards to rules of working, whether citizens or not, should benefit everyone working in the TRNC equally.

The People's Party argued that the fundamental rights of the foreign nationals in the TRNC were violated in many cases and that the employees are the victims of these violations and at the same time caused unfair competition among the employers. The People's Party said that the government had left the people in this situation without finding solutions to the problem. 

"Basic working life rights are for everyone"

Describing the circumstances in which the foreign workforce in the country, the People's Party's expressed the government's approach to the issue as follows:

-The legislation on working life in the country clearly states that fundamental rights are all for everyone, such as minimum wages, insured employment and the benefit of an overtime pay. These are both the fundamental rights of the employee and the legal obligation of the employer.

As required by the legal legislation, no one in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus can be employed for a fee lower than the minimum wage, whether or not he is a citizen.

Trying to hire these people by looking at the wages paid for their services in Cyprus compared to the wages in their own countries is an approach that is against the basic human needs.

While such an approach should not be a matter of discussion, we have witnessed in recent days that some of the views in this regard have re-emerged publicly and that the Minister of Labor and Social Security has said "we will carry it to the Council of Ministers".

The main tasks of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security are to supervise the working life, to ensure compliance with the rules and to improve the conditions of employees without discrimination of nationality. At this point, the citizen can not be treated separately. If you have a political understanding that is respectful of human and law, you fulfill your duty to supervise, punish violation in case of violation of rights, and ensure that the employee enjoys legal rights.

Due to the impermanence of the governments not paying attention to the implementation of the legislation in force, many foreign nationals are currently employed in the country with no insurance and salaries under the minimum wage. Some of these people, who are subjected to very long working hours, are not paid additional work.

When the People's Party comes to the referendum, it will fully implement the working life rules and will not allow foreign nationals to be exploited as cheap labor force. It will put an end to the injustices of foreign nationals who cause them to feel differentiated and negatively affect their adaptation to the country." 

"We will prevent abuse of students" 
The People's Party pointed out that some of the young people who came to the country with the student visa were illegally employed in half-time status, whereas they work full-time jobs.

"The people who came to the country with the student visa, according to the Law on Working Permit of Foreigners, can be administered. This permission is limited to half-time work which will not exceed 4 hours a day and 24 hours a week.

It is forbidden to employ a person who comes here with a student visa in a full-time job. Some young people who come to the country with a student visa are employed with a half-time working sheath, but work  for long hours and, of course, without insurance, at very low wages. This is not acceptable.

As the People's Party, we will stop all those who come to the country with student visa to work and let them know that they are working in semi-timely jobs in contradiction to the law by working in full-time qualification." 

"We will prevent injustice and unfair competition" 
The People's Party, underlining that some foreign nationals were deprived of fundamental rights brought by the working life rules and that this also had an adverse effect on the competition among employers.

"In our country, governments have overlooked the obvious violation of the rules and laws; and even transformed it into almost a method. The employers who fulfilled their responsibilities against the law, however, came to an unfair competition in this distortion. Namely;

If an employer employs an insured employee as required by law, pays a minimum wage as required, pays the employee when he / she did additional work, and does not employ people who not are allowed to work on a full-time basis while another person abuses the rules and abuses foreign nationals as cheap labor.

If the government remains quiet, an environment of unfair competition will arise against the employer. Even worse, if an employee who has been victimized by these conditions is to be hit by a work accident, his or her family's chances of getting any right are gone.

As People's Party, our view will be to ensure that the rules of working life are enforced and we will not tolerate the violation of the legal rights of foreign nationals; so that we will abandon unfair competition among employers."

Adapted from Havadis (Translation not 100%)