Officials shouted from the square: Salary increases must be recalculated

The Bilecik Provincial Representative of the Turkish Confederation of Public Employees Unions has protested alleging that the announced salary increases for the second half of 2023 for civil servants are below expectations.

While the Confederation-affiliated unions issued a joint press release in all provinces on the proposed increase in civil servants, Kamu Sen-affiliated union members, who gathered in Bilecik’s Cumhuriyet Square, expressed their reactions to the increases.

“ERDOĞAN’S WORD WAS NOT FULLY REFERRED TO”

Public Sen Bilecik Provincial Representative Veli Şahan stated that the draft law on increasing the number of civil servants for the second half of 2023 has been submitted to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

*Our President’s promise that the lowest wage for civil servants will not be less than the lowest wage for workers has not been fully fulfilled. Therefore, salary increases for civil servants must be recalculated.

* A bill has been prepared that includes an increase of 8 thousand 77 TL in addition to the inflation difference of 11.77 percent in the first 6 months of 2023 and the 6 percent increase in the 2021 collective agreement.

* With this proposal, it is stated that the salary of the lowest grade civil servants has been increased to 22,000 TL. However, the reality is different from what is described. The criteria set for raising the salary of the lowest grade civil servant to the level of TL 22,000 was the increase in the salary of the lowest grade employee in May.

*According to the collective agreement signed in May, the lowest salary for workers was 22,000 TL as of January 2023. In addition to this figure, an increase of 15 percent will take place in July.

*But when calculating the lowest salary of the civil servant, the family allowance and the child allowance are also included; Instead of minimum wages, clothed wages were taken into account. In other words, while the lowest salary for workers was 22,000 TL in January, the lowest salary for civil servants was only 22,000 TL in July with social benefits.

*Actually, the salary of a single civil servant in the 1st level of the 15th grade is around 10,400 TL. Consequently, the salary of a single officer with the lowest grade will be 20,300 TL, not 22,000 TL in July, with the increase to be made. This figure is 1,700 TL lower than indicated.

“INJUSTICES CONTINUE”

Emphasizing that the president’s promise that the lowest salary of a civil servant will not be less than the lowest salary of a worker was not fully fulfilled, Kamu Sen Provincial Representative Şahan used the following expressions:

* The lowest salary, which was 22,000 TL in January, will be increased by 15 percent in July and will increase to 25,300 TL. Therefore, there will be a difference of 5,000 TL between the lowest salary of the worker and the lowest salary of the civil servant.

*As can be understood from here, the lowest salary of the worker and the lowest salary of the official were not matched, and the existing injustice was continued. Therefore, our President’s promise that the lowest salary of a civil servant will not be less than the lowest salary of a worker has not been fully fulfilled.

*Therefore, it is necessary to recalculate the salary increases of civil servants. In addition, an additional payment of 8 thousand 77 TL is expected to be granted to civil servants to guarantee this increase.

*This additional payment should have been made to the base salary and computed for retirement. However, with the regulation introduced, it is expected that the payment of 8 thousand 77 TL will not count towards retirement.

“IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO FIND THIS INCREASED POSITIVE”

Stating that for years, retired civil servants have been exposed to great injustice due to excess elements in the salaries of civil servants that do not count towards retirement, Kamu Sen representative Veli Şahan said: “This injustice will increase once again with the application of the additional supplemental payment. For this reason, this error must be reversed immediately, and the necessary modification must be made to the invoice in order for the additional supplemental payment to be counted as retirement. However, taking into account the economic evolution and the decrease in the purchasing power of civil servants; Taking into account that the additional complementary payment will not be reflected in retirement, it is not possible for us to find this positive increase”.

THERE WAS ALSO ACTION IN ESKISEHIR

Turkey Kamu-Sen Eskişehir branch representative Alp Arslan said, “Our request is that after the basic salary of the lowest-ranking official has been increased to TL 22,000, an increase of 6 percent, which is the increase of the second period in 2023, will be applied to the inflation difference, in addition to this, social participation will be given and this will be done, the increase is reflected to all public servants and retirees in the same way. In addition, care must be taken to ensure that all public employees, without exception, benefit from the additional supplementary pay, and the additional additional payment must be counted as an element of salary.