Yalçın, President of Memur-Sen: "The Initiative is with the Government, We Have No Faith in the Arbitration Board"

General President Yalçın stated that the wage balance of public employees is upside down and that the latest government offers (11% + 7% for 2026, 4% + 4% for 2027 and 1000 TL for base salary) are far from solving this problem. Yalçın said, "We rejected, ignored and did not accept all the proposals that did not cure our problems, that did not solve the problems, and that further broke the hopes of civil servants. No one can expect us to be the owners of problems that we are not the cause of. That's why we didn't put our signature under these proposals."

Emphasis on Joint Actions and Inadequacy of the Law

Stating that they showed their reactions with actions such as press statements in 81 provinces, rallies in Ankara and marches to the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, Yalçın emphasized that they took a common stance and were in communication with the confederations of Türkiye Kamu-Sen and Birleşik Kamu-İş during this period. Yalçın thanked the heads of other confederations for this unity.

Although no consensus could be reached on general issues during the collective bargaining process, he stated that agreement was reached on articles related to many professional groups, from engineers to academics, from branch managers to experts, and that these articles were added to the minutes of the meeting. Yalçın said that this shows that the 8th Term Collective Agreement could have gone down in history as "the most comprehensive collective agreement" if a fair offer had been made.

Yalçın stated that the current Law No. 4688 is outdated and creates problems instead of producing solutions and argued that this law should be changed as soon as possible.

"We have no confidence in the Arbitration Council, the initiative lies with the government"

Stating that the process will now be taken to the Arbitration Board for Public Officials, Yalçın made it clear that they have no confidence in the Board. Yalçın claimed that the past decisions were unfair and that the Arbitration Council had become the "Public Employer Arbitrator."

Concluding his speech by reminding that they still have 3 days left, Yalçın stated that if there is anything that can be done for nearly 7 million civil servants and retirees, the initiative lies with the government. Yalçın said, "Let the expectations of civil servants be met, let despair turn into hope. Our struggle and objection will continue."