The Office Workers’ Union (BES) affiliated with KESK read a press statement in front of workplaces for its demands in many provinces of Turkey.

The Social Security Administration workers, who voiced their demands for a living wage to live humanely, demanded the inclusion of additional increases in pensions, 3600 additional points to their ranking in wages, free food/roadside assistance, and rent support. The union workers emphasized that they would continue to struggle until their demands were met.

Rallies, protests, and press conferences were held in Istanbul, Antalya, Adana, Istanbul – Pendik, Istanbul – Umraniye, Mugla Bodrum, Batman, Kocaeli, Izmir, Trabzon, and Antep provinces and cities.

The press release read by the BES, the Office Workers Union, officials at the protests is as follows:

We live in a period in which promises are made not to allow public workers to be crushed under inflation. This and similar promises are present in the election manifesto. There is no need to go back to the past. As of February 2023, we are experiencing a reality where salary increases remain below the inflation rate.
We reiterate our demands;

• We want a wage worthy of human dignity.
• As İŞKUR workers, we retrospectively request our bonuses and other additional payments that were unjustly and unlawfully cut in 2012 and are still unpaid despite the court decision.
• We want 3600 additional indicators for all office workers.
• We want free meals, rental assistance, and nurseries in all institutions.
• We want to hire to be based on merit, not interviews used for political purposes.
• We want the tax bracket robbery to end.
• As of February 2023, we live in a reality where salary increases remain below the inflation rate. We have not forgotten and will not forget fixed contracts by the representatives of the government-friendly Memur Sen yellow-union, or the sales contracts imposed on public workers by the political power for years. We have not forgotten the representatives of Memur Sen union who gave a standing ovation to the meager 5% increase!
• We have not forgotten and will not forget the losses caused by the fake inflation figures announced by the official TURKSTAT as if mocking our minds!
• We have not forgotten the words of the Minister of Labor and Social Security, who was ignorant of the salary of public workers!
• We want the salaries of public sector workers, which have been declining for years, to rise to the poverty line. As Public Workers, we do not want blessings, we want a collective bargaining table to be established urgently regarding our salary and personal rights, and we want our demands to be met.

MB Sendika.Org News