Call for Collective Bargaining from Memur-Sen to the Government: "The Lowest Civil Servant Salary Should Be 74,930 TL"

ANKARA - Before the upcoming collective bargaining negotiations, Ali Yalçın, President of Memur-Sen, made striking statements on the agenda at the "Anatolian Talks" program of the Turkish Press Federation (TÜBAF). Yalçın emphasized that the government should compensate the economic losses of civil servants and pensioners, eliminate the wage imbalance and make improvements in social rights. The union's demand of 74,930 TL for the lowest civil servant salary has received wide publicity.

Economic Instability Should Not Be Billed to Civil Servants

Calcin, who met with journalists and writers atTÜBAF Headquarters, stated that the current economic situation leads to inadequacy in civil servant salaries and injustice in income. Reminding that civil servants suffered great losses in previous collective bargaining processes, Yalçın stated that the inflation targets announced by the Central Bank and the Medium Term Program (MTP) did not meet and that the cost of this situation should not be imposed on civil servants. Yalçın said that as Memur-Sen, taking into account market conditions and real inflation data, the lowest civil servant salary should exceed 67 thousand TL in January 2026, but their offer is 74,930 TL. This figure aims to protect the purchasing power of civil servants and increase their economic welfare.

Wage Injustice Among Public Personnel Should Be Eliminated

Yalçın also gave a wide coverage to the wage injustice among public employees in his speech. Pointing out that there are serious wage differences between employees of different status doing the same job, Yalçın stated that this situation decreases productivity in the public sector, damages motivation and devalues the merit system. Reminding that in the past, with the intervention of the President, the lowest civil servant salary was adjusted so that it was not less than the lowest worker salary and balance was achieved with an additional improvement of 8,077 TL, Yalçın emphasized that a similar picture is in question today and that this injustice should be resolved in the new collective agreement.

Request for Pay Raise and 3600 Additional Indicator

Mentioning the problems faced by civil servant pensioners, Yalçın said that the ratio of pensions to the salary of office has decreased to 45% and the lowest pension remains at 22,670 TL. In order to eliminate this injustice, he argued that the dilyan increase applied to public employees should also be reflected in their pensions. Yalçın also stated that 3600 additional indicators for the 1st degree is the insistent demands of Memur-Sen and the promise of the political will, and called for this vital regulation to be implemented before the end of 2025.

Gains and Other Demands for the Year of the Family

Y Yalçın, who also brought up the theme of "Year of the Family", stated that the spouse and child allowance has lost its economic meaning due to the fact that the additional diluted increase is not reflected in the coefficient. He emphasized that this benefit is currently 3,500 TL, but if it is reflected in the coefficient, it should increase to 6,000 TL. Stating that family-friendly policies should be supported with realistic incentives instead of symbolic figures, Yalçın demanded that these arrangements be signed at the collective bargaining table.

At the end of his speech, he listed demands for various professional groups, such as eliminating the salary imbalance of branch managers, chiefs and supervisors, making improvements to engineers and technical staff, correcting the wages of academic staff, introducing rent support and ending the income tax injustice and fixing the salaries of public servants at 15%. Finally, he added that the Auxiliary Services Class personnel should be transferred to the General Administrative Services or Technical Services class and all public servants should be given holiday bonuses.