In a decision by the Cabinet published in the Official Gazette on Thursday, all workers falling under the jurisdiction of Article 4/C will be employed under similar conditions to civil servants for a temporary period of 11 months. According to the decision, a maximum of 36,215 workers will be employed, with the Ministry of Education employing a majority of 14,000.
Moreover, the regulation will increase the wages, number of leave days and severance pay of the workers, while also providing them with the same social security benefits as civil servants. Working hours, sick days, vacation leave and maternity leave have all been increased significantly. Sick days have risen from two days every four months to 30 days in a year, with maternity leave now at 16 weeks and paid vacation set at 22 days. The conditions mirror those of permanent civil servants, giving dismissed workers unprecedented rights in the public sector even with their temporary status.
According to the decision, only workers dismissed from privatized state-owned enterprises can take advantage of this decision, regardless of whether or not the 36,215 allocated positions are completely filled. Wages were also increased to TL 772 for primary school graduates, TL 856 for secondary school graduates and TL 938 for higher education graduates. A travel allowance will be paid for workers who have to relocate to other provinces, and they will be given 15 days to move. The regulation also reforms the working hours that have been highly criticized by unions, decreasing the number of hours temporary workers have to work in a day to that of civil servants, rather than being forced to finish the work they have on hand within the day regardless of the time it is completed.
Article 4/C was enacted in 2004 in an unprecedented step to support laid-off workers from privatized enterprises and drew media attention after dismissed Tekel employees refused to accept its conditions after Tekel’s factories were privatized.
