Request for salary increase of civil servants
Cem YILDIRIM/ANKARA
The president of the Defense, Office and Support Services Union (SAVDESSEN), Tuncay Cengiz, affirmed that public servants suffered serious losses in the context of salary increases and inflation in 2021 and 2022, saying: “To compensate for the losses , public servants urgently need an increase from 17.90% to 20%. It was a must,” he said.
Cengiz’s statements, which compared the inflation rates of TUIK, the salary rates of civil servants in collective agreements and the actual salary increases of civil servants, are as follows:
41.69 PERCENT INCLUDING INFLATION DIFFERENCE
“As is known, in the negotiation of the Collective Agreement of the 5th Legislature, which included the increase in the salaries of public servants for 2021, the authorized confederation withdrew from the table and left the field to the Arbitration Board of Public Servants. . The Board of Arbitration also predicted a 3+3 percent salary increase for civil servants for 2021.
TURKSTAT determined that the CPI rate for 2021 was 36.08 percent, and civil servants received a salary increase of 7.33 percent in January 2021, including the inflation difference, and 8.45 percent, including the inflation difference, in July 2021.
The salary increases for public officials for 2022 were included in the Collective Agreement of the VI Period. The 6th Term Collective Agreement was signed between the authorized confederation and the government in August 2021 and published in the Official Gazette on August 23, 2021.
According to the Collective Agreement of the 6th Term, an increase of 5+7 percent in the salaries of civil servants was foreseen for 2022, and the government added 2.5 percent in January 2022.
The CPI rate for 2022 was determined by TUIK at 64.27 percent, and civil servants received a salary increase of 30.50 percent in January 2022, including the inflation difference, and 41.69 percent, including the inflation difference, in July 2022.
AVERAGE LOSS
Now, based on this data, let’s take a look at what the 1000 TL is from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2022.
It should be 1,000 TL, 2,152.3 TL based on civil servant salary increases, 2,235.4 TL based on annual inflation rate. The three seem to be more or less close to each other. However, even with the lowest salary of a civil servant, there is a loss of approximately 850 TL per month and approximately 10,000 TL per year. This should not be overlooked either. In addition, since salary increases are made semi-annually, for example, in the first six months of 2022, civil servants lost an average of 1.15 salaries. Based on these data, it appears that civil servants did not receive a raise and social participation, but only an increase in the inflation rate announced by TURKSTAT.
‘THE COUNTRY IS GROWING BUT THE EMPLOYEES ARE NOT GROWING’
According to TUIK data, our country appears to have grown by 11.4 percent in 2021 and 5.6 percent in 2022. In fact, the country’s economic growth means that citizens are living more prosperously. we also? We’ll see.
The economy has grown, civil servants have grown as much as the inflation rate, that is, we are in our place, we have not been able to take part of the country’s growth, that is, of well-being. If you ask what this means, our share of Gross Domestic Product has dropped by 17.96% in 2021 and 2022, with a simple calculation. That is to say, the country grows, but the civil servants do not grow.
‘EVERYTHING IS EXPLAINED’
For the month of February 2023, Türk-İş has determined the monthly food expenditure that a family of four must make for a healthy, balanced and adequate diet, that is, the hunger limit, TL 9,425.15, expenditure in food and clothing, housing (rent, electricity, water, fuel) announced the total amount of other mandatory monthly expenses for transportation, education, health and similar needs, namely the poverty line, as 30 thousand 700.83 TL.
In the table of “Some indicators on selected salaries and wages” in the report dated February 24, 2023, published by the Presidency of Strategy and Budget, the Minimum Salary of Public Servants is 10 thousand 441.9 TL and the Salary Average of Public Servants is 12 thousand 200.5 TL.
The inflation rate for January 2023 was 6.65 percent and the inflation rate for February 2023 was 3.15 percent, according to Turkstat. 10.01 percent overall.
Since the increase provided for by the collective agreement melted in February, we have already entered the additional increase and the inflation gap for 2022.
I can’t imagine the effects of inflation in March, April, May and June. I’m not talking about purchasing power. We already feel it to the bone. So, everything is clear. Last word; To compensate for the losses, it was necessary to urgently give officials an increase from 17.90 percent to 20 percent.”