Memur-Sen Calls on Government for Collective Bargaining: "Lowest Civil Servant Salary Must Be 74,930 TL"

ANKARA - Memur-Sen President Ali Yalçın made striking statements regarding the upcoming collective bargaining negotiations during his guest appearance on the "Anadolu Sohbetleri" program organized by the Turkish Press Federation (TÜBAF). Yalçın emphasized that the government must compensate for the economic losses of civil servants and retirees, address wage inequality, and make improvements to social rights. The union's demand for the lowest civil servant salary to be 74,930 TL has received widespread public attention.

The Cost of Economic Instability Should Not Fall on Civil Servants Meeting with journalists and writers at the TÜBAF headquarters, Yalçın stated that the current economic situation has led to insufficient civil servant salaries and income injustice. Recalling that civil servants suffered significant losses in previous collective bargaining rounds, Yalçın noted that the inflation targets set by the Central Bank and the Medium-Term Program (MTP) were not met, and that civil servants should not bear the cost of this failure. Yalçın announced that based on market conditions and real inflation data, Memur-Sen's proposal for the lowest civil servant salary in January 2026 is 74,930 TL, although the salary should exceed 67,000 TL. This figure aims to protect the purchasing power of civil servants and increase their economic welfare.

Wage Inequality Among Public Personnel Must Be Addressed In his speech, Yalçın also extensively addressed the issue of wage inequality among public employees. He pointed out the significant wage differences among employees with different statuses doing the same job, stating that this situation negatively affects productivity, damages motivation, and devalues the merit system in the public sector. Yalçın reminded that in the past, with the intervention of the President, the lowest civil servant salary was adjusted to be no less than the lowest worker's wage, and an additional improvement of 8,077 TL was made to restore balance. Yalçın stressed that a similar situation exists today and that this injustice must be resolved with the new collective bargaining agreement.

Demand for Lump-Sum Payment for Retirees and 3600 Additional Indicator Addressing the problems faced by retired civil servants, Yalçın noted that the ratio of retirement pensions to on-duty salaries has dropped to 45% and that the lowest retirement pension remains at 22,670 TL. To remedy this injustice, he argued that the lump-sum payment applied to public employees should also be reflected in retirement pensions. Furthermore, Yalçın reminded that the "3600 additional indicator" for first-degree positions was a persistent demand of Memur-Sen and a promise of the political will, and he called for this vital regulation to be implemented before the end of 2025.

Gains Befitting the "Year of the Family" and Other Demands Bringing up the theme of the "Year of the Family," Yalçın stated that due to the lump-sum payment not being reflected in the coefficient, the spousal and child allowance has lost its economic value. He noted that this allowance is currently 3,500 TL but should be 6,000 TL if reflected in the coefficient. Yalçın emphasized that family-friendly policies should be supported with realistic incentives instead of symbolic figures, and he demanded that such regulations be signed at the collective bargaining table.

In the final part of his speech, Yalçın listed various demands for different professional groups, such as correcting the wage imbalance among branch managers, chiefs, and supervisors; making improvements for engineers and technical staff; improving the salaries of academic personnel; providing rent support; and ending income tax injustice by fixing civil servants' salaries at 15%. Finally, he added that Auxiliary Services Class personnel should be transferred to the General Administrative Services or Technical Services Class, and that all public employees should receive a holiday bonus.