Public defenders protest for wages

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

Close to 1,000 public defenders are protesting for higher wages and retirement benefits.

Public defenders, who claim that they used to earn the same wages as judges and prosecutors, now say they are earning three times less, and are protesting in front of the Finance Ministry.

This was be the first time that these lawyers have taken part in such a protest, and they say that they have resorted to this only as a measure of last resort, because there are no unions to represent them, according to hurriyet.com.tr.

Salaries
The lawyers claim that their salaries average 2,200 Turkish Liras per month, and are asking for 3,600 liras.
They want their retirement pensions to be increased as well. Lawyers, judges and prosecutors earn 5,500 liras per month, according to the public defenders.
 
Public defenders also say their pensions do not reflect their severance payments, so they are actually much lower than those of other civil servants.

They told daily Hürriyet that judges and prosecutors earned 3,000 liras per month in pensions payments, and engineers earned 2,000 liras, while public defenders received only 1,200 liras.

The public defenders also criticized some media stories which claimed their salaries were higher.

The lawyers said they were determined to continue their actions until they achieve a satisfying result.