Only 5.7 percent of private-sector workers in Turkey are union members and a mere 4.2 percent are covered by collective bargaining agreements, according to a report by a labor confederation, which said official statistics overstate both rates. The report said official nationwide figures obscure the much lower level of unionization in the private sector, where only 5.7 percent of 17.4 million workers were union members. By its calculation, 16.3 million of Turkey’s 18.7 million workers, or 87 percent, were not union members. Labor groups have long said that unregistered employment, anti-union dismissals and legal barriers to collective bargaining discourage workers from organizing. The International Trade Union Confederation ranked Turkey among the world’s 10 worst countries for workers in its 2026 Global Rights Index, citing restrictions on strikes, union organizing and public protests.