NEWS
First meeting of the 6th round of collective bargaining held
03.08.21, Tuesday
The first meeting within the framework of the 6th session of collective bargaining, which directly affects nearly 4 million active civil servants and nearly 2 million retired civil servants was held on Monday, August 02. The meeting was attended by Vedat Bilgin, Minister of Labor and Social Security, Ali Yalçın, Chairman of Memur-Sen, leaders of Memur-Sen affiliated unions, representatives of the Public Employers Committee and representatives of various public sector confederations
Speaking as trade union lead partner, Yalçın, President of Memur-Sen, expressed his expectations from the negotiation process: "As a true lever for competitiveness, growth, employment, public performance and social progress, collective bargaining must enable the realization of decent work and harmonious labor relations, which is why we must prioritize a rich and peaceful social dialogue," he stated.
Adding that: "The public employer should not remain impervious and indifferent to the demands of public sector employees, nor hide behind the excuse of "public budget constraints", it should instead demonstrate its commitment to the process of collective bargaining that should appear as useful, fair and effective, in accordance with the objective of social welfare," he said.
Referring to Memur-Sen's proposals, Yalçın said, "Although the Turkish economy has registered strong growth, this growth has not benefited everyone evenly. Indeed, the increase in wages and salaries of civil servants has remained well below the observed real inflation rate, but the government does not seem to want to follow a proactive logic," he said.
Recalling that the Turkish economy is in a good position to return to dynamic and sustainable growth, Yalçın said, "Public employees should receive a higher share of productivity gains, in the form of wages, which in turn can promote an increase in productivity and increase demand in the economy," he said.
Pointing out that the living conditions of civil servants had deteriorated significantly, Ali Yalçın said, "The Memur-Sen confederation has demanded a 21 percent wage increase for 2022 and 17 percent for 2023, a total of 38 percent. As a reminder, two years earlier, Memur-Sen had refused to co-sign the previous collective agreements, which were sanctioned in favor of the Government by arbitration award. The government's intransigent position towards public employees has resulted in unprecedented economic suffering for public employees", adding that: "For this reason, we have requested a compensatory increase of 600 TL/month for the losses incurred during the period of previous collective agreements.
Finally, we asked for an additional 6% increase in order to catch up on the social welfare of public employees. Although no statement on the subject has been made by the public employer, we believe that it is necessary to take into account the social welfare of workers. On this particular point, we will show the utmost conviction and intransigence," he announced.
Below are the main Memur-Sen proposals:
1- Inflationary pressure on salaries must stop, salaries should be increased by 38%. To avoid the destructive effect of inflation, the inflation gap should be reflected in salaries from the month when the inflation rate exceeds the rate of increase in salaries.
2- The contribution of public employees to the economic growth of the country should be taken into account, an extraordianary increase of 6%, distributed as follows 3% on 01.01.2022 and 3% on 01.01.2023, should be reflected in the salaries and wages of public officials.
3- Following the very insufficient increase in salaries sanctioned by arbitration award on the sidelines of the 5th collective agreements (period 2020-2021), which Memur-Sen had refused to co-sign, an allowance of 600 TL should be paid to all public employees.
4- Without any discrimination between civil servants, additional bonuses should be granted for performance, seniority, attendance, and hazardous and unhealthy work.
5- The limitations on severance pay should be removed, the index coefficients should be increased, the base coefficient for calculating severance pay should be increased to 100 points and the 25-year time limit for severance pay should be removed.
6- Contractual agents should have the same job guarantees as civil servants. The fallacy of contractual employment in the public sector should cease and those working in public institutions and organizations (including local governments) as contractual employees should be transferred to civil servant positions until 31.01.2022.
7- Workers holding positions as assistants, midwives, nurses, religious leaders, or auxiliary teachers should be appointed to civil service positions in accordance with their functions and titles in their institutions.
8- Without discrimination, public employees should receive holiday bonuses. The bonuses paid to retired workers in the private sector during Ramadan and Sacrifice holidays should also be paid to public employees.
9- Withholding tax on income should not lead to loss of income; the problem of the basic rate of income tax leading to loss of salaries and income for public employees should be solved, and income tax deductions exceeding 15% for public employees should be compensated by the public employer.
10- SEAs should be allowed to set salary caps up to 15%. The cap for those in the 1st group of Basic Salary Groups in SEAs is 15% / those in the 2nd group are 10.3%. We would like to see an additional 5% increase for those in this group.
11- The limitations that prevent internal promotion and access to functions and employment at a higher level must be lifted. Depending on their level of education, public employees should be able to access a higher level of employment.
12- Birth, death and marriage allowances should be increased effective January 1, 2022;
a) The birth allowance should be increased to 1,800 TL,
(b) The death benefit should be doubled,
(c) A marriage grant of TL 8,540 should be given to public employees.
13- Clothing allowances should be increased, a day care service or alternatively a day care allowance should be granted.
a) Clothing allowance should be 500 TL for 2022 and 650 TL for 2023.
b) A day care service or alternatively a day care allowance equivalent to 980 TL should be provided.
14- Existing contractual staff should be transferred to the general administrative services class and contractualization should be abolished.
15- Retired civil servants should continue to enjoy the rights and benefits during the periods they worked, and should be allowed to maintain their affiliation with the unions. Retired civil servants who are not affiliated should be able to become members of the unions of the branch of service of the last institution/organization in which they worked.
16- The expectations of disabled civil servants must be taken into account and their rights must be established within the framework of affirmative action. Daily and weekly working hours should be determined differently.
17- Women civil servants must be supported, their expectations must be considered and realized. The period of paid postpartum leave should be extended to 24 weeks. The duration of maternity leave should be extended, the practice of paying salaries during maternity leave should be adopted, and mechanisms to protect female civil servants from moral harassment should be put in place as soon as possible.
18- The use of contract workers (4/B) or short-term contract workers (4/C) should be abolished.
19- The damages caused by Covid-19 must be compensated, the burden of proof regarding the absence of a causal link should be placed on the social security institution, and an expansionist interpretation should be adopted in terms of financial and social rights to be provided in case of death or disability.
20 - In order to promote efficiency and professionalism in the public service, the competition is the instrument through which the principle of equality and merit is realized. Giving importance to merit in both promotion and recruitment is a vital necessity in terms of service quality. Tests for recruitment, promotion and advancement of civil servants must be held regularly in all public institutions. The institution of merit-based evaluation and grading must not be left to the discretion and arbitrary decisions of superiors.
21- The maintenance of the ban on membership in political parties and the ban on the right to strike infringe on the individual freedoms of civil servants; these constraints must be lifted as quickly as possible.
22- As it is not easy to be involved in trade unionism, the bonuses reserved for trade unionists who actively participate in collective bargaining should be increased to 450 TL by January 1, 2022 and to 540 TL by January 1, 2023.