Speaking on television, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek stressed that people calling Article 4/C a form of slavery should point the finger at the workers’ unions which applauded and thanked the prime minister when the article first came into effect. The article gives contracted workers dismissed during the privatization of state-owned enterprises 11 months of paid temporary work in the public sector with a wage above the state minimum.Pointing out that the privatization of state-owned enterprises in Turkey started in the latter half of the 1980s and therefore is not a new phenomenon, Şimşek called for those who are placing the blame on the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to redirect their accusations, as nothing along the lines of Article 4/C existed before they came into power. “In the past, privatization would occur and the dismissed workers would get their severance pay and be out on the street. Our government didn’t think this was right, so we convened with the heads of the unions at the time so as to find a solution. There was nothing [like 4/C] before 2004. After introducing Article 4/C in 2004, we would employ any of these laid-off workers in the public sector.” He added that the decision to privatize Tekel had been made by the Supreme Privatization Board (ÖYK) in 2001, before the AK Party came into power.
‘4/C is not slavery’
Regarding allegations that Article 4/C is a form of slavery and that the prime minister is unaware of what it entails, Şimşek underlined that not only does the prime minister know the ins and outs of the article, but that the union heads of the time applauded him for bringing it to fruition: “The wages we pay workers [under 4/C] are between TL 772 and TL 938. There are roughly 3 million people working for a minimum wage below this, and at least 3 million to 3.5 million people unemployed. If it was truly a form of slavery, then it’s a product of the unions at the time. The 4/C that is being criticized today was applauded by the unions, which thanked the prime minister for bringing the initiative about. It is not true that the prime minister does not know the workings of 4/C … These accusations are lies.”
On a question about what the government is doing to resolve this issue, Şimşek revealed that he and State Minister Hayati Yazıcı have been working since Friday on the technical aspects of a proposal that may improve the financial situation of workers dismissed due to privatizations and give them more rights, saying they would present their solutions to the prime minister within a few days. He added that the work they are doing now is not only for Tekel workers, but for a broader group of workers who may fall into the same situation.
Stressing that Tekel workers had not lost their jobs completely and would be employed in the public sector as stipulated under 4/C, Şimşek noted: “It’s easy to dramatize events like this and run toward populist solutions, but as the government, you have to rationally spend the limited resources you have. If you want to talk about rights, then we’ve presented 4/C. The topic isn’t about rights; it’s about the supposed inadequacy of the conditions. ‘We used to receive high pay checks, but now you are employing us in the public sector with a lower wage.’ This is what the argument is all about.”
Prime Minister Erdoğan, speaking on a Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) channel yesterday, also made note of the Tekel issue, mentioning that during his meeting with the head of the Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions (Türk-İş), Mustafa Kumlu, he spoke about severance payments -- which currently run the risk of being cut off temporarily if workers accept work under 4/C -- and saying: “According to the media, I didn’t know what 4/C entailed regarding severance payments, so I scolded my ministers for not telling me about it fully. This isn’t true. I asked them if they could work on continuing the severance payments without any gaps. … I also asked the unions to give us a few days so that our people can work on resolving this [severance payment] issue. Our finance minister is working on this issue and if there are no problems will transfer the workers under 4/C without cutting off their severance payments temporarily. If needed, there will be a change in 4/C, but it needs to be said that 4/C will not be done away with.”
