The 15th General Assembly of "Hak-İş" Confederation was held in Ankara.
While addressing the problems of workers at the General Assembly, President Erdoğan promised to raise civil servants' salaries above the base wage of public workers in July.
Reminding the regulations regarding the lowest pensions, Erdoğan also reminded the regulation made for public workers.
"We increased the lowest pension to 7,500 liras and holiday bonuses to 2,000 liras. We are working to improve the situation of our retirees who receive salaries above this figure. With the opening of the new Parliament, we will also delight our citizens who receive pensions over 7,500 liras," Erdoğan said.
Underlining that regulations will be made regarding the increases to be made in civil servant salaries in July, Erdoğan said, "At the beginning of the year, we added a 13.5 percent welfare share and made a 30 percent increase in total. Thus, we increased the lowest civil servant salary, which was 392 liras in 2002, to approximately 12 thousand liras with an increase of 136 percent in real terms. Now, in July, we will regulate the lowest civil servant salary so that it does not remain below the lowest public worker. We will make a similar increase by increasing the minimum wage to 15 thousand liras, as in the case of public workers, and adding the inflation difference and welfare share. Thus, the lowest civil servant salary will reach 22 thousand liras."
Speaking at the General Assembly, Minister of Labor and Security Vedat Bilgin stated that they carried out a lot of work during the 2-year working period and underlined that the most important work is to exclude the minimum wage from taxation.
"There are many arrangements we have made, of course, there are some that we cannot do. One of the issues that remains before us, whether we can make a promise or not, is the issue of contract workers. The subcontractor issue, if the earthquake had not occurred, is a two-month waste of time, the last file we could not submit to the Parliament is the issue of temporary workers. We had the opportunity to solve it to a large extent in the Assembly. With the arrangement we made once, we provided temporary workers with the opportunity to work 12 hours in their own workplaces, and we also brought a norm staff. We brought this in writing, some general directorates are trying to circulate it according to their legislation, but we did not allow it. Temporary workers no longer have a problem," he said.
“WE HAVE ALWAYS MENTIONED THAT THE TAX RATE OF EMPLOYEE SHOULD BE 10 PERCENT”
Hak-İş Chairman Mahmut Arslan stated that they frequently stated that a regulation regarding the tax system is necessary and that their struggle continues.
"We have expressed at every opportunity that we need a tax system that takes into account family obligations, that tax rates should be regulated, and that the tax rate taken from all wage earners should be determined as 10 percent during the crisis. We believe that an effective fight against unregistered employment and unemployment should be carried out. We have achieved a successful result in our blessed and honorable struggle with cooperation and dialogue regarding the recruitment of subcontracted employees. Our struggle will continue until we get the cadres of the workers who are excluded from the scope," he said.
“HAK-İŞ WITH ALL VICTIMS”
Stating that Hak-İş carries out works not only in Turkey but also in the world, Arslan stated that Hak-İş stands by all the oppressed.
"Hak-İş is the universal power, universal conscience, universal reason, and universal mercy of not only the oppressed near us, but also of the whole humanity. We oppose the persecution, genocide and savagery in Palestine, Gaza, Jerusalem, Yemen, Egypt, Syria, Arakan, East Turkestan, Afghanistan and anywhere in the world. As Hak-Is, we condemn the systematic attacks of the Zionists against the Palestinian people, which continue to increase in intensity with each passing day. Jerusalem is our cause, Jerusalem is our sanctuary. As Hak-İş, we will continue to protect Jerusalem with all our means and to stand with our Palestinian brothers and sisters. We shout out on every platform our demand for peace, freedom, democracy and justice for all the oppressed and victims of the world."