Retirees and employees want to live humanely in our country

The issue of increasing pensions has been on the public agenda for a long time. Under current conditions, even if the lowest pension were raised to 20,000 TL, it would not be possible to save retirees from the hunger and poverty line.

For this reason, the pension accrual rate must be reviewed and increased from 27.7% back to 70%, as it was in the past. Only then will increasing salaries and providing raises have any meaning.

The social security law must be changed immediately. The social security law is a colonial law. It is the duty of all political parties, unions, and professional organizations, especially the political power, to ensure that all retirees and employees live humanely by transforming retirement from a burden into a fundamental right, in accordance with the norms in our Constitution.

Social security and retirement are among the most fundamental needs for protecting and maintaining the level of social welfare in a society in parallel with economic development.

Is the social security and retirement system a right in line with a social perspective? Or is it viewed as an obligation consistent with the process of liquidating the social state concept?

The fundamental difference between these two approaches is that in the social state concept, social security and retirement are seen as a fundamental right and a public service, whereas in the gendarme state concept, they are viewed as an obligation and a private good/service.

While retirement and social security are rights under our Constitution, they were regulated as an obligation in the Social Security Law No. 5502 dated May 26, 2006. It is this very mindset that has deprived retirees of their right to a humane life, social security, and retirement, condemning them to poverty and hunger today.

The political power's neo-liberal policies have stripped retirement and social security of their status as rights under the guise of health transformation, turning them into obligations. As a result, the concept of 'retirement in the grave' has been introduced by extending the retirement age, while pension bonuses, severance pay, and the pension replacement rate have led to hunger and poverty rather than a humane standard of living, causing significant losses in welfare.

Today, retirees are living below the poverty and hunger thresholds. The political power must increase the pension replacement rate to 70%, as it was before 2000, and raise the severance pay ceiling to 7.5 times the minimum wage. While a worker retiring in 2002 received a minimum of 1,750,000 TL in severance pay, the same worker receives 500,000 TL in 2023. In 2002, a worker could purchase 838,000 dollars with their severance pay, whereas a worker retiring today receives only 25,000 dollars.

For all employees, the pension replacement rate was 70% of their salary until 2000; this rate was reduced to 55% between 2000 and 2008, and today it has dropped to 35%, or 27.7% if the number of premium days is 5,000.

Assuming a worker retiring in 2000 earned 1,000 TL, their pension at that time was 700 liras. If a person earning 1,000 liras after 2000 retired by 2008, they would receive 550 liras, and if the same person retires today, they would receive 350 liras. Furthermore, if the number of premium days is 5,000, the pension drops even further to 277 liras.

As can be seen, the fundamental problem for retirees is the social security law created by the political power. This law must be urgently amended, and the pension replacement rate and severance pay must be reorganized along with an adjustment law.

As a result of the AKP government's neo-liberal and conservative policies, social security and retirement have been removed from being a fundamental human right and a public service.

According to the first paragraph of Article 49 of our Constitution, work is the right and duty of everyone. Article 56 of our Constitution states that everyone has the right to live in a healthy and balanced environment, while the first paragraph of Article 60 establishes the provision that "everyone has the right to social security."

In line with the Constitution's principle of a social state, social security, the right to retirement, and the right to a healthy life must be developed in accordance with the progress made in the field of human rights and freedoms in the modern world, and a fundamental organizational structure must be established that all citizens can benefit from regardless of their wishes or financial means.

A Constitutional Court ruling states: "The protection of the individual, which is the goal of a state governed by the rule of law, can be achieved through the provision of social security and social justice in society." From a constitutional perspective, social security service is a public good and service.

According to social insurance techniques, the ratio of active to passive insured persons should be at least 4 to 1. In other words, at least 4 employees must finance 1 retiree.

This ratio is 6 to 1 in OECD countries. While the active/passive ratio in our country was 2.29 in 2000, it has fallen to 1.10 today. As can be seen, it is clear that the legal regulations made under the pretext that the active/passive ratio is low and the raising of the retirement age have had no effect on this situation.

Structural regulations must be implemented to find a solution to unemployment on one hand, and on the other, to ensure without delay that employees can receive retirement pensions and bonuses at a level suitable for current conditions, which is one of their most fundamental rights.