Officials from the government and representatives from civil servant confederations met on Tuesday to discuss current issues such as the improvement of social welfare and union rights for civil servants, including the right to strike and the right to engage in collective bargaining. The parties will participate in workshops during the meeting, which will run for three days.
The minister spoke to reporters ahead of the workshop. Asked how the government interpreted the decision by two of the unions not to participate in the meeting, the minister said the meeting concerned all public servants in Turkey, recalling that a government is discussing the right of public servants to strike for the first time in the country’s history. The Turkish Public Workers’ Labor Union (Kamu-Sen) and the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK) had earlier announced that they would not participate in the meeting. The minister recalled that the government had informed the civil servant confederations about the meeting in November and invited them to attend. Yazıcı said those which refused to participate in the meeting are the unions which failed to “comprehend the essence of workers’ problems in Turkey.”
Asked about his recent remarks on the involvement of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the Tekel protest, Yazıcı said he was misunderstood. “I meant to say that some different radical factions, including the PKK and its offshoots, are trying benefit from the Tekel dispute by making their voices heard. This does not necessarily imply that Tekel workers are PKK supporters. Some people are intentionally playing with the meaning of my words.”
Yazıcı said the Tekel workers have one month to accept temporary employment under Article 4/C. “Some 500 workers have applied to switch to 4/C thus far and we provided jobs for 350 of them. The remaining 150 workers will start their jobs on Thursday. This is their own choice,” he said, adding that the government has done its best to improve the 4/C conditions.
