Turkey: Effective collective bargaining requires stronger membership
33 EFJ members, unionists and media owners met in Istanbul, Turkey, and showed great commitment to develop their own collective bargaining and membership recruitment tactics and strategies.
The 1.5-day workshop was organised by the EFJ and the Turkish Union of Journalists (TGS), one of the partners of the Stand Up for Journalists (SUJ) project. The union has attracted new young members and has had successful collective agreements, despite the worsening situation for press freedomand journalists’ working conditions in Turkey.
Speaking at the opening session, TGS President Gökhan Durmuş shared the struggle of journalists fighting for media freedom and better working conditions in Turkey. Durmuş stressed that the decline in press freedom and the increasing precarity facing journalists are closely linked. To reverse the situation, we must defend the rights of journalists and ensure their decent working conditions.
“We cannot safeguard journalistic independence, workers’ rights and media freedom without decent working conditions. As we are navigating an era of significant social and political changes, economic pressures, and growing uncertainty in our profession, collective action must be at the heart of our efforts to achieve these conditions.” – Maja Sever, EFJ President
Participants came from 20 European countries (Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain and Turkey) to discuss their different experiences and challenges in collecting bargaining.
During the workshop, participants shared tactics on how to recruit members, particularly young journalists, and retain them. Trade union representatives from FIA – International Federation of Actors shared their success in mobilising members through strike actions (e.g. Hollywood strike) to boost their collective bargaining power. Andreas Hanisch from TikTok Works Council in Berlin shared his experiences and challenges in organising young media workers for digital platforms.
A key theme of the event was young journalists and the future of trade unions. Discussions focused on how to attract younger people to join unions. This involved brainstorming real cases from the participants and sharing successful strategies and common concerns.
“Unions must make it accessible for young people to join. Young journalists want their voices to be heard. They want to be treated as equal and participate in decision-making.” said Markus Valentin, President of the Danish Media Students
With the adoption of the European minimum wage directive in 2022, all European countries are obliged topromote collective bargaining. The objective of the workshop was to identify tools and mechanisms to help members on the field.
This workshop was the first in a series of 5 workshops organised by the Stand Up for Journalism project. The upcoming workshops include:
- Equal rights for freelance journalists (Vichy, France) – 23 – 24 January 2025
- Online harassment and better protection of journalists (Belgrade, Serbia) – 31 March – 1 April 2025
- Well-being and burnout in journalism (Belgium) – 16 – 17 June 2025
- Organising in the age of AI (Copenhagen, Denmark) – 6 – 7 November 2025
- Final conference (Montenegro) – March 2026
This 18-month project is led by EFJ and is implemented with its partners: Independent Journalists’ Association – NUNS (Serbia), Trade Union of Media of Montenegro – TUMM (Montenegro), Danish Journalists’ Union – DJ (Denmark), Turkish Journalists’ Union – TGS (Turkey), Syndicat National des Journalistes – SNJ-CGT (France) and Association Générale des Journalistes – AJP (Belgium)
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his project is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
