The confederation will organize a series of demonstrations until the end of the year as part of efforts to win public support for their demands and to protest the government.
While the demonstrations are to kick off after Sept. 23, the civil servant unions are expected to file a complaint in court before Ramadan ends against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, citing that the prime minister has failed to fulfill last year's consensus document. After eid, the confederation will call for all 404 branch chairperson's of affiliated unions to come to Ankara for a three-day meeting on Oct. 2, 3 and 4. Plans prepared by the confederation administration will be finalized and demonstrations will be implemented after the meeting
There will be efforts to involve Civil Servants' Trade Union (Memur-Sen) and Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (KESK) members in the strike. Kamu-Sen will also make many visits to related parties such as political parties, nongovernmental organizations and media organizations to share their action plan with all segments of society to win their support.
Kamu-sen Chairman Bircan Akyıldız told the Anatolia news agency that as a confederation they are determined about unionization because Turkey is in need of it. Highlighting that they have “serious and determined” action plans for the near future, Akyıldız said they need public support in order for these demonstration to be successful and will therefore carry out vigorous efforts to share their views with the public. He explained that they will discuss and inform people about the collective bargaining process that took place with their branch chairpersons and finalize the details of their actions plan.
Akyıldız said the political stance has left them no other option but to organize demonstrations in order for their demands to be accepted.
Prime minister will have final say
The latest meeting held between the government and labor unions concerning a wage increase in 2010 did not yield favorable results for the unions. While both sides came together to discuss the conciliation commission's decisions, the meeting concluded without reaching an agreement, leaving it up to the Cabinet to decide how much civil servant salaries will be increased next year. However, the council is not expected to decide on an amount higher than the figures mentioned in the meeting. If no changes are made to the government's proposal, civil servant salaries will increase TL 25 in January 2010 and then another TL 25 in July, making it a TL 50 rise in total. The lowest civil servant salary will be TL 1,044.
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