“Public Worker Wages to Increase: Latest Economic Update”
Collective bargaining negotiations have begun in Turkey, aiming to determine the financial and social rights of public workers during the 2023-2024 period. Over 700,000 public workers in institutions and organisations such as highways, railways, provincial administrations, sugar factories, power plants, coal enterprises, universities, and hospitals are covered by the public collective bargaining agreement. The government’s initial proposal included a base wage of 12,000 liras and a 40% increase for the first six months, but worker representatives deemed this insufficient and demanded further improvement. The joint demand of Türk-İş and Hak-İş, representing workers, is to increase the monthly gross base wage to 15,000 liras and add a 15% welfare share to all wages after this. After adding the base wage increase and welfare share, a 45% increase was requested for the first six months, followed by a 5% increase and inflation difference for each subsequent six-month period. Public workers, including those in municipalities and special provincial administration companies, also demanded additional payments. Negotiations for the 7th Term Collective Bargaining, covering the salaries of approximately 3.5 million civil and 2.5 million retired civil servants for the years 2024-2025, will begin on August 1. The 2023 Public Collective Bargaining Agreement Framework Protocol is also essential in determining the frameworks of collective bargaining agreements to be signed in the private sector, specifically the collective agreement of civil servants.
