Vedat Bilgin, Minister of Labor and Social Security, visited Hak-İş Confederation Headquarters. Mahmut Arslan, President of Hak-İş Confederation, welcomed Minister Bilgin. The two spoke to reporters together. Minister Bilgin pointed out that the work on many problems of workers is nearing the end, while Arslan stated that important steps have been taken regarding the articles included in the Public Framework Protocol. Making a speech during the visit, Hak-İş Chairman Mahmut Arslan pointed out that significant gains were made in the most recent Public Framework Protocol and said, “The cancellation of taxes above the minimum wage in this protocol is an important step. In the interviews with us, the highest figure was announced. We stated that we would work on our friends who were not included in the public framework protocol and could not be covered by 70 percent of our friends. We had stated also that we will take a significant distance in terms of cadre of temporary seasonal workers who have become gangrenous. We have said that adjustments will be made to the situations of our friends who have been recruited. There are approximately 450,000 workers in municipal companies. Since it is not considered a public institution, no bonus is given. While municipal employees receive bonuses, there is a peculiarity that municipal companies are not considered public employees. The Retirement Age Victims (EYT) issue also became a knot. We know that it has reached an important point.”
“WE WILL ANNOUNCE NEW NUMBERS DUE TO INFLATION IN DECEMBER”
Pointing out that the most basic issue in collective agreements is the minimum wage, Minister Bilgin stated that they made the highest increase in history with the regulation made and said, “Collective agreements are important steps against inflation. The public framework protocol is also important. I would like to express that all employers have to comply with this protocol. This approach of friends who say that we are not members of a public union, this does not bind us is a ridiculous approach. This issue is legally binding. A state agreed upon is the result. We will also announce new figures in December by looking at the destruction of inflation.”
“WE MADE OUR PREPARATION FOR THE RECRUITING OF CONTRACTED PERSONNEL”
Reminding that the EYT issue has existed since 1999, Bilgin stated that an important point has been reached in the studies on regulation. Bilgin also drew attention to the future of solutions to priority problems and said, “We will share the file on EYT when it is completed. First of all, urgent problems should be solved. The issue of recruiting contracted personnel was not on the agenda in the Council of Ministers. We have made our preparations, we will share it with the public after making the final evaluation with our President. We have completed all our work on the transition of those who are outside of the law numbered 696 as permanent workers. The work on transferring around 90,000 personnel who are out of scope to the public sector is complete. I would like to inform you that it will be put into practice after a certain stage.”