Civil Servants and the Government Fail to Agree: Collective Bargaining Moves to the Arbitration Committee

ANKARA - The 8th Term Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations, which were eagerly awaited by approximately 6.5 million civil servants and civil servant retirees, failed to produce a compromise. Finding the government's latest offer insufficient, Civil Servants' Union (Memur-Sen) decided to take the process to the Arbitration Board. On the other hand, Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan announced that agreements have been reached in 9 out of 11 service branches, while opposition unions harshly criticized the government's offer and expressed their lack of confidence in the Arbitration Board process.

The Government's Latest Proposal and Reactions from Trade Unions

The government's latest offer at the collective bargaining table was 11 percent in the first 6 months and 7 percent in the second 6 months for 2026, and 4+4 percent in the first and second 6-month periods for 2027. It was stated that this offer included the 1,000 TL base salary increase given on August 15. However, this offer was not accepted by the authorized union, Memur-Sen.

Memur-Sen President Ali Yalçın said in a statement that the wage balance of public employees is upside down and that the proposals are far from solving this problem. "By signing the Collective Agreement, we could not be the owner of the problem that we did not cause," Yalçın said, revealing the reason for the dispute. Although there were reports that the Arbitration Council would be consulted after the breakdown of the table, Yalçın later said that they do not believe in the Arbitration Council and that the initiative lies with the government.

Minister Isikhan: "We Have Never Crushed Any Civil Servant to Inflation"

In his assessment of the process, Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan stated that a compromise was reached in all 11 service branches and that important gains were achieved in 58 articles concerning more than 4.2 million civil servants and 311 articles in the service branches. Acknowledging that no agreement was reached on the proportional increase, Minister Işıkhan stated that the process was taken to the Arbitration Board and that everyone will respect the decision of the Board. "Just as we have made the most advanced rights and wage improvements for civil servants until today, we will continue to do so in the future. We will not let any of our civil servants and employees be crushed by inflation," he said.

United Public-Is Reaction to "Rights, Law, Justice"

United Public-Is Confederation Chairman Orhan Yıldırım, who criticized the government's offers from the very beginning of the collective bargaining process, made harsh statements at a press conference in Ankara. Describing the government's 1,000 TL offer as the equivalent of "2 bagels per day", Yıldırım argued that this offer condemns public employees to hunger and misery.

Yildirim also criticized the decision of the Civil Servants' Union to take the process to the Arbitration Board, reminding that in previous periods the Arbitration Board had accepted the government's offer exactly as it was. Yıldırım claimed that the Arbitration Board is not independent, saying, "When 7 of the 11-person arbitration board are personally appointed by the President, it is unfortunately not possible to expect a different figure other than the latest offer of the Ministry of Labor." He also criticized the fact that while more than 1 trillion TL was paid to interest in 6 months from the budget, only 36 billion TL was offered to 25 million citizens and said, "We will never accept this."

How will the process work?

When the collective bargaining process ends in a dispute, the file will go to the Public Officials Arbitration Board. The 11-member Board will decide by majority vote. According to the law, the Board has until August 31 to determine the increase rates for 2026 and 2027.

Source: odatv