KESK's Harsh Outburst Ahead of 8th Term Collective Bargaining Talks

Ankara - The negotiations for the 8th Term Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which will cover the years 2026-2027 for public workers and pensioners, got off to a controversial start. KESK and its affiliated unions reacted harshly to the government's "arbitrary" rescheduling of the negotiations, which were supposed to start on August 1, to July 28. In a press statement in front of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (ÇSGB), KESK Co-President Ayfer Koçak said that the past 7 periods under the name of "collective bargaining" were a loss for public workers and called for unity for a real CBA.

"Lawless and Arbitrary Attitude": Reaction to CBA Date

Ayfer Koçak stated in her statement that this process, which directly concerns 4 million public laborers and 2.5 million retirees, is being carried out with the government's "I did it myself" approach. Koçak reacted harshly to the start of the negotiations 4 days earlier despite the provision of the Law No. 4688 on Public Servants and Collective Bargaining, which states that "Collective bargaining negotiations shall start on the first working day of August". "Do you have the right to arbitrarily violate the law with a trivial justification such as "We have moved the schedule forward due to our minister's overseas program?", Koçak asked, expressing their condemnation of those who trampled on the law they made and those who stood by and watched this lawlessness.

Koçak stated that this unlawful and arbitrary attitude did not come out of nowhere, and that the current government has gradually broken away from workers, laborers and impoverished millions, prioritizing the interests of capital and cronies. He stated that this situation is also reflected in the collective bargaining processes, that the government decides everything at the table and in case of disagreement, the Arbitration Board, which has its own majority, steps in, so nothing changes.

Poverty, Precarity and Discrimination: KESK's Main Criticisms

KESK Co-General President emphasized that public laborers are facing deep poverty, misery, precariousness, drudgery, heavy tax burden, and hundreds of problems such as interviews, torpil and discrimination in entry to the public sector and promotion. He stated that a huge mass of 6.5 million people is once again wanted to be imprisoned in the triangle of "Power-Arbitrator-Favorites" under the name of "collective bargaining".

Koçak stated that during their visits all over the country for 15 days, every public worker and pensioner, regardless of which union they belong to, has been complaining about this strange system and looking for a way out to solve the problems. "As long as this game, which has nothing to do with a real, universal, collective bargaining, where all our rights are handed over to the employer and his confederation-unions, where we are ignored, continues, it is not possible to solve the problems we are experiencing," he said, arguing that the system must change fundamentally.

Emphasis on Real CBA and Strike Rights: KESK's Demands

KESK emphasized that a real collective bargaining system is unthinkable without the right to strike and listed its demands under the following headings:

• A Real Collective Bargaining Agreement: A CBA in line with ILO conventions and universal trade union rights and freedoms, complete with the right to strike, where women public workers are represented at the table with their own demands.

• Date of the CBA Table: September-October, which coincides with the budget period, instead of August, which coincides with the leave period of public laborers.

• Wage Adequate for Human Living:

  • No public laborer's salary should be below the poverty line, the lowest salary should be raised above the poverty line (85 thousand TL as of June 2025) and increased by 94% as of July 2025 and this increase should be reflected to all public laborers.

  • By January 2026, the lowest public laborer salary should be raised above the poverty line, which is estimated to be at least 100 thousand TL, i.e. 98%, and this increase should be reflected to all public laborers.

  • Inclusion of the gross 18 thousand 682 TL diluted allowance in the base salary coefficient and reflecting it to the salaries of current retirees.

  • Increase the spouse allowance to 4 thousand TL and the child allowance to 5 thousand TL for each child.

  • Rent subsidies of 13,500 TL for metropolitan cities and 11,000 TL for other cities for all public laborers who do not own a house, and updating these amounts every three months by the increase in the poverty line.

  • A real welfare share: Welfare share at the rate of economic growth announced every three months.

  • End the injustice of income tax, reduce the rate of the 1st tranche from 15% to 10%, and fix the income tax deducted from wages up to the poverty line at this rate.

  • Giving bonuses to all public laborers twice a year equal to their net salary.

• Justice in Retirement: The elimination of the gap between the retirement age, salary attachment rate and pensions between public workers covered by Law No. 5434 and Law No. 5510, and the right to an equal, fair and humane retirement.

• Right to Kindergarten and Care Labor:

  • Opening free, high-quality, mother-tongue, full-time (24/7) daycare centers in the public sector.

  • Nursery support of 7,500 TL as of July 2025 for each child between the ages of 0-6 until daycare centers are opened.

  • Regulation of pre- and postnatal leave in favor of parents and children (8 weeks of maternity leave before and 24 weeks after childbirth, followed by 6 months of non-transferable parental leave).

  • Ensuring gender equality, sharing of care labor, gender equality in employment, promotion and title changes.

• Working Conditions and Social Rights:

  • Reducing the weekly working week to 35 hours.

  • 7,000 TL monthly food allowance for those who do not receive food at work.

  • Free shuttle service or monthly subscription card for all public workers to and from work.

  • Fuel support over 50 cubic meters of natural gas per month.

  • "Welcome Bonus" of two salaries for new civil servants.

  • 3600 additional indicators for all public laborers promoted to Grade 1, regardless of title, cadre or service class.

• Secure Employment and Secure Future:

  • An end to precarious employment (wage, agency, subcontracted, contracted), secure and permanent employment for all public laborers.

  • An end to practices such as performance and flexible working.

  • Reinstatement of those dismissed by unlawful and arbitrary decrees.

• A Democratic, Fair Working Life:

  • The abolition of interviews in hiring and promotion, and the adoption of career and merit as the basis.

  • Removing obstacles to freedom of association, paving the way for trade union rights and freedoms, ending trade union discrimination.

  • End sexism, discrimination and mobbing against women public workers.

  • Revocation of the Istanbul Convention, ratification of ILO Convention No. 190 on Violence and Harassment.

• A Public Service in Favor of the People:

  • End privatization, increase public investment, and ensure adequate public employment.

  • An end to the transfer of public resources to capital through interest and Public Private Partnerships.

  • Fairness in taxation, reduction of indirect taxes, abolition of privileges granted to wealth, interest and profit income, introduction of wealth tax.

Call to All Working People to Unite: Determination in the Struggle

KESK addressed all public laborers at the end of its statement, stating that those who are the apparatus of the current system cannot be the address of the solution. He emphasized that trade unionism is not just demanding, but standing behind the demand, and that the method is to turn to the working people and organize the power coming from production. He stated that the "so-called authority" of the authorized confederation, which stands aside without a struggle when demands are not accepted, is null and void for the working people.

"There is only one solution. And that is that those who have been losing for years in this anti-labor order, regardless of which union they are members of, should come together and stand shoulder to shoulder." KESK called for unity in the struggle for a real collective bargaining agreement with strike, a wage sufficient to live humanely, secure employment, a secure future, a democratic-fair working life and a public service in favor of the people. KESK stated that it will focus on all working people, not on one-legged tables with clear parties, in order to further expand this struggle and resolutely defend the real demands of working people.