Tez özetleri Astronomi ve Uzay Bilimleri Anabilim Dalı

Employee-Employer Relations In Forestry

This research discusses in detail the legal developments regulating the working life and the working conditions in forestry. We try herein to analyze the effects of the legal regulations regulating the working life in forestry on the forestry enterprises working conditions both falling and not falling within the scope of such legal regulations.

In the forestry works where the sufficient mechanization is yet to be realized, as is the case in the other sectors, man is still the most important workforce. The most important condition regulating the employer-employee relations, i.e. the working life, is undoubtedly the whole of legal rules. The legal regulations regarding the working life in forestry have had a late start. The regulation of forestry affairs was first included in the Labor Law no. 4857, which entered into force in 2003.

As required by the Labor Law no. 4857, the affairs falling within the scope of forestry and principles and guidelines defining the working conditions of the workers employed in this field have been regulated with the bylaws prepared by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

It is a positive development that the forest workers are covered by this law, though with some constraints. Thus, the social security regulations of those who work in forestry enterprises are included in the Labor Law. Nevertheless, those who work at “unit price” and carry out a considerable part of the forestry operations are deemed employer instead of employee due to the specifications they conclude with the forestry enterprise, which lay down the conditions for performance of the job. Therefore, they are excluded from the legal regulations defining the working conditions of the workers.

Those who work at unit price, with a majority composed of the forest villagers especially, could not reach the desired legal status and social security.

In forestry, legal definitions of the forestry work and the forest worker will ensure that the working life advances considerably within regulated rules. In this regard, the specific characteristics of the forestry activities must be taken into consideration. Due to its features separating forestry sharply from the other business lines, it will be an appropriate approach to bring legal security to it through the regulations special to the working life.