Pay settlements, Outsourcing, Türkiye

Civil servants this year will see pay rise by 8% for the first six months with a further 4% for the second six months. Workers on less than TL 3500 (EUR 555) a month will get an additional TL 150 (EUR 25). Not all public sector trade unions are happy with the outcome as inflation is currently running at 16.7%. Pay in 2020 is set to increase in two instalments of 3%, although this could be increased if inflation is higher.

On 3 October unions in the DISK and KESK confederations organised a half-day work stoppage in the city of Izmir in western Turkey. The strike called for the reinstatement of workers who have been arbitrarily dismissed by the government in its continuing indiscriminate actions following the attempted coup in 2016. The unions also called for an increase in the minimum wage and for municipal workers to be treated the same as civil servants in relation to the government's recent legislation to end outsourcing.

The government has passed a decree that effectively ends outsourcing in central and local government. Outsourced workers in central government will be directly employed by the central government institutions while those in local authorities will be transferred to local authority-owned companies, rather than directly to the local authorities. The changes have been welcomed by trade unions although some have expressed concern about the difference in rights and pay and conditions for those in local authority companies and about the fact that the changes were implemented by decree with no

(February 2017) Workers employed by the Karbel municipal company in Karabağlart in the Izmir province in western Turkey took strike action at the end of January and won an improved pay offer from the employer. Wages will rise by 9% this year and there is an inflation-plus formula for the second year of the agreement. Other allowances will also increase. EPSU sent solidarity greetings underlining the workers' determination to assert their right to take action even during a period when the government has threatened to ban strikes.