Maden-Is and Tümad Madencilik has signed a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with which is a first in Turkey’s growing gold mining industry.
The CBA covers around 200 workers and will be valid for a two-year period in 2019-2020. Belonging to a multi-sector conglomerate Nurol Holding, Tümad Madencilik is one of the first locally-owned private investors to start up a gold mine in Turkey.
Maden-Is intensified and finalized its recruitment drives at the beginning of 2018 and applied to the Ministry of Labour for certification on February 21. The CBA was signed in the final round of negotiations on 6 December.
With the new agreement, workers are entitled to get decent salaries, overtime and shift payments and social benefits such as education, heating and religious festival bonuses. The agreement also covers substantial provisions on occupational health and safety.
In the meantime, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing loans to finance the construction, development and operation of two mines in northwestern Turkey – the Lapseki mine in the Çanakkale province and the Ivrindi mine in the Balıkesir province developed and operated by Tümad Madencilik.
Since early 2000s, the gold mining industry has been under the spotlight with its possible impacts on environment and society. Maden-Is union and Tümad work together in developing highest international standards in both occupational health and safety and in environmental and social management.
As part of the concept of “beneficiation”, Tümad’s operations will create new jobs for the local population, and offer training and employment opportunities, which includes teaching mining technology and on-the-job training programs.
Kemal Özkan, Assistant General Secretary of IndustriALL Global Union commented about the CBS: “This new agreement signed by Maden-Is with Tümad Madencilik in the gold mining sector turns a new page for the industry in Turkey.”
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