Gov’t, unions agree over salary rise for Turkish civil servants

ANKARA

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The government and unions have come to an agreement over a salary rise offer for millions of civil servants and retired civil servants in Turkey, covering 2018 and 2019.

The Labor Ministry had earlier stated that both sides agreed on the 4 percent salary rise for the first six months of 2018 and another 3.5 percent for the remaining six months of the year. In 2019, civil servants will get 4 percent rise for the first six months of the year and 5 percent for the other six months.

“This way, the lowest civil servant salary, including family allowance, rose to 2,929 Turkish Liras for the second half of 2018 and 3,198 liras for the second half of 2019. Also, there is a 7.6 percent increase cumulatively in the public workers’ and retired civil servants’ salaries in 2018 and 9.2 percent increase in 2019. We raised the salary 17.5 percent cumulatively in 2018 and 2019. The lowest retired civil servant salary rose to 1,945 liras in the first six months of 2018 and 2,093 liras in the first six months of 2019,” Labor Minister Jülide Sarıeroğlu said during the signature ceremony in the capital Ankara on Aug. 22.

She added that the government strongly realized the rise in prosperity of public workers in an environment that the inflation rate is expected to decrease in the medium-term.

“We reached a consensus on 258 articles in the contract. This is the highest point that we have reached in the process so far. Some 70 new articles were revealed as the first achievement for our public workers and retired civil servants. We realized a very serious improvement in 50 articles,” Sarıeroğlu said.

Meanwhile, Memur-Sen head Ali Yalçın said both sides had pushed all the limits over the 21-day tough negotiation process and came to an agreement.

“The initial [government] offer for the first six months of 2018 was increased by 33 percent and the second six months were increased by 16 percent. Therefore, there is a 25 percent increase in the rate of cumulative rise in 2018 compared to the initial offer. The initial offer for the first six months of 2019 was increased by 33 percent and the offer for the second six months was increased by 66 percent. Therefore, there is a 50 percent increase in the rate of the cumulative rise again compared to the initial offer,” Yalçın said, while acknowledging efforts for the increase that led to an ultimate consensus.