Statement on the public worker’s raise talks

Minister Vedat Bilgin received TÜRK-İŞ and HAK-İŞ delegations in his office within the scope of the negotiations of the 2023 Public Collective Bargaining Agreement Framework Protocol, which concerns more than 700 thousand workers in public institutions and organizations.

After the meeting, which lasted for about 4 hours, TÜRK-İŞ Chairman Atalay and HAK-İŞ Chairman Mahmut Arslan made statements to the journalists.

Stating that they came together for the negotiations, Arslan said, “We had a really productive meeting today in order to move forward the point we have reached in the work we have done so far. We have passed a certain stage as a result of this meeting. I hope we will meet with the Minister again next week.” he said.

Emphasizing that they will make efforts to reconcile the collective bargaining agreement at the final point, Arslan said, “Sincerely, Mr. Minister, TÜHİS (Turkish Heavy Industry and Service Sector Public Employers’ Association), HAK-İŞ and TÜRK-İŞ are really trying to finalize this collective bargaining agreement as soon as possible. We made an effort. It was a productive meeting, but we have not yet been able to reach a consensus on all items. A full consensus has not been achieved. Our efforts will continue for this,” he said.

Stating that 365 thousand of nearly 700 thousand public workers are on minimum wage, Arslan said, “We want those who exaggerate the collective bargaining agreement and those who are not aware that workers are working with minimum wage today, to be aware of this.” used the phrases.

– “We demand that this matter be over before the election”

TÜRK-İŞ Chairman Atalay pointed out that this study, which concerns more than 700 thousand workers, covers 4 million people, including their families.

Atalay said:

“A community of 4 million expects a figure from us today. They expect it from the government, not from us. Our desire was, let’s go out here today, let’s say they gave this and that. Lastly, as you all know, the base wage was 12, the ceiling above was around 40 percent. But apart from that number, all of our unions have special problems in their workplaces, they have special problems, there is a labor increase, there is a service increase, there is night work, there is finance. These are such important issues that the same issue is in the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of National Defense, other ministries. Now, we have more or less solved some of them today.”

Stating that they were expecting a figure from the employer on Tuesday, Atalay reminded that the process has been going on for three months.

Atalay said that they demanded the end of this issue before the election and continued as follows:

“There is no verse that says if they do, if they do not give a suitable number, there is no verse that says we will finish this issue before the election. So, let the families fulfill their demands as soon as possible. They bring us a figure about the base and the ceiling wage. There is an issue we are stuck with in the administrative articles. They solve them. It is contractual and to whom is this wage paid? It is given to the people of this country. To whom is it given? It is given to the worker living in this country. What are we talking about? 10 thousand, 11 We are talking about a thousand liras, these are the numbers we are talking about in a place where meat is 325 liras. So we don’t want a low figure here.”