While teachers working in the private sector continued to work with problems such as low wages, under-insurance and mobbing, their grievances increased with the abolished base salary regulation in 2014.
While the Private Sector Teachers' Union was working to restore the right to the base salary, the law proposal on the base salary did not receive support from the government.
"WE RECEIVED THE FIRST FRUIT OF OUR WORK WITH THE PROPOSAL OF THE LAW"
Expressing that the work on the demands of the teachers will continue, Umut Erkurt, Press Secretary of the Private Sector Teachers' Union, emphasized that the right to the base salary was taken away from the teachers overnight.
"For the last one and a half years, we have been working very seriously, from the Parliament to the bureaucracy, from the bureaucracy to the press, from the press to street activities and social media, for the 'base salary', which is our most vital right. We first received the fruits of our efforts at the end of last year and in the following period, when three opposition parties in the Parliament submitted a law proposal for the right to a base salary for teachers working in private education institutions. But the government and its partner rejected this offer," he said.
"Promises are made on the eve of the election, and a voice started to be heard from the power"
Stating that as a union, a meeting was held with the Ministry of National Education (MEB) in the past few days, Erkurt stated that they had meetings with both the government and the opposition.
"In the MEB meeting, we both conveyed the 'unconditional' staff demand of earthquake-affected private sector teachers and also repeated our demands in the previous meeting with the MEB. After this process, the presidential candidates made promises in their rallies and social media accounts that they would return our base salary, and immediately after these statements, the ruling MP Metin Külünk made a statement that efforts should be made for the private sector education workers' right to a base salary and that this should not be used as a tool for the opposition," Erkurt added.
"OUR TEACHERS' VICTIMIZATION NOT ENDED"
Reminding the proposal of the law that was rejected in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey after Metin Külünk's statements, Erkurt said, "In the regulation in question, the salaries of our friends working in public schools and equivalent private schools were equalized, thus preventing the loss of rights. Employees were partially protected. With the re-enactment of this law, our teachers would be able to breathe a little easier, but the AK Party and MHP deputies rejected the motion and did not put an end to the victimization of our teachers working in the private sector."