Gül Neşe Erel (1942–), née Kutlu, has been a unique figure in Turkey’s trade union movement, building a decades-long career in organizations and institutions dominated by men. Erel was active both on the national level and internationally and aimed to use her labour expertise to contribute to policymaking.

Erel started working in the research department at Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (Türkiye Işçi Sendikaları Konfederasyonu, Türk-İş) in 1963 and became its head in 1968 – a role she held until her retirement in 1980. Under her leadership, the Türk-İş Research Bureau became an authoritative voice in labour-related policy discussions. The bureau advised government institutions and contributed to the formulation of Turkey’s five-year development plans. Her work unfolded during a period transformative for the history of labour in Turkey, from 1963 to the severe restrictions in the aftermath of the 1980 military coup. During these years, according to Erel, workers had real political power in Turkey.

Beyond her research responsibilities, Erel played a significant role in trade union education. She lectured at the Türk-İş Trade Union College on various aspects of trade unionism, such as collective bargaining and calculating a family wage. She also contributed to the Türk-İş Journal, writing about women workers’ challenges and labour rights in the 1960s, when the collaboration between the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and Türk-İş around women workers’ education was at its height.

On the international stage, Erel represented Türk-İş as a corresponding committee member of the ICFTU Women’s Committee from 1967 to 1972. She collaborated with the ICFTU’s leading women activists such as Marcelle Dehareng and Elisabeth Ostermeier. Erel considered wage inequality a core problem of women workers in the Western countries, but argued that gender issues such as this one were less relevant in Turkey, where workers regardless of gender struggled to find their voice and fight for their rights. Yet Erel researched women workers as part of her general investigations of working conditions and wages, and she contributed to educating working women and women trade union activists.

After retiring from Türk-İş in 1980, Erel continued her involvement in labour research as the head of research at the Road, Building, and Construction Workers’ Union of Turkey (Yol-İş) until 1988. Her expertise was later sought at the governmental level, and between 1995 and 2002, she served as an advisor to the Minister of Labour in Turkey. Erel’s career at the intersection of labour research, trade unionism, and policymaking reflects the views and priorities of trade union leaders in Turkey and internationally during the 1960s and 1970s.

Read more: Interview with Gül Neşe Erel