Public Personnel Advisory Board convenes

Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan, with the participation of the presidents of civil servant confederations and authorized unions, presided over the Public Personnel Advisory Board (KPDK) meeting held at the Ministry of Labor and Social Security under the theme of 'social dialogue'.

PALESTINE-ISRAEL WAR ADDRESSED

Delivering the opening speech of the meeting, Minister Işıkhan began by celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Republic. Işıkhan stated, 'For the past month, as Turkey, we have been celebrating the 100th anniversary of our Republic in a manner befitting its meaning and importance to us. However, on the other hand, we are experiencing the pain of our brothers and sisters in Palestine who are being subjected to genocide before the eyes of the whole world. I want to emphasize with determination that Israel, which has become a shame for humanity, must be held accountable before international law.'

Minister Işıkhan added, 'Especially in recent years, the internal and external areas of struggle we have been engaged in as Turkey have shown that the 100th anniversary of our Republic will be the beginning of a great milestone in every respect.' he said.

''WE ARE HOLDING CONSULTATIONS FOR NEW SOLUTIONS''

Reminding that the KPDK meets every March and November to improve social dialogue between public institutions and organizations and public servant unions, Işıkhan continued his remarks as follows:

“I hope we will have held the final meeting of 2023 together. Our civil servant unions are undoubtedly among the most important representatives of our working life. For this reason, as a Ministry, we come together with our social stakeholders at every opportunity, hold consultations, and strive to keep all our mechanisms active for the resolution of problems. On October 20, we reconvened our Tripartite Advisory Board after a long hiatus. The worker and employer segments came together, and we also participated. I hope that we will achieve similarly productive results after this meeting as well. In August, we carried out the Collective Bargaining processes aimed at improving the financial and social rights of our public servants covering the years 2024 and 2025 together with you. Numerous gains were achieved for service branches during the 7th Term Public Servants Collective Bargaining Negotiations. With the decisions of the Public Servants Arbitration Board, we contributed to the resolution of significant problems, including the issues we agreed upon at the table regarding public servants in general.”

EMPHASIS ON COLLECTIVE BARGAINING NEGOTIATIONS

Noting that gains were achieved in 291 articles within the scope of service branches and 62 articles regarding general issues, totaling 353 articles within the scope of the 7th Term Public Servants Collective Bargaining Negotiations, Minister Işıkhan made the following assessments:

“In the current situation, items such as the monthly payment of the Collective Bargaining Bonus, which is currently paid four times a year; allowing public servants who have no remaining legal leave to be considered on unpaid leave during the Hajj period; providing positive discrimination for disabled individuals in public housing; organizing vocational adaptation training and improving physical working conditions; granting additional time for disabled public servants to benefit from public housing; conducting studies with the contribution of the authorized confederation by taking the opinions of public institutions regarding the benefit of public servants who have reached the 1st degree from the 3600 supplementary indicator; and reviewing the Public Servants Unions and Collective Bargaining Law No. 4688 in light of current developments stand among the important articles in the collective agreement. On this occasion, I once again wish our negotiations to be beneficial to our country and our public employees.”

''74 PERCENT OF OUR CIVIL SERVANTS ARE UNIONIZED''

Pointing out that the culture of unionism is becoming increasingly widespread and growing in Turkey, Işıkhan stated the following:

"In particular, our public servant unions today possess a membership potential that includes millions of public employees. Unionism is the most important driving force of social solidarity. This is also an element that enhances our understanding of the social state, which is one of our most ancient civilizational principles. From the past to the present, the rate of unionization in public servant unionism has shown a continuous upward trend. When we look at it proportionally, approximately 74 percent of our civil servants are currently unionized."

Stating that all problems previously thought to be unsolvable in public personnel management have been resolved one by one, Minister Işıkhan said, "Many highly anti-democratic practices that made no sense in practice, ranging from the ban on civil servants leaving the city on weekends to the headscarf ban in the public sector, have been abolished."

Stating that the most solid guarantee of future services for public employees is the reforms made in the past, Işıkhan remarked, "We are strong together. We will be even stronger. We have reached these days together. In the second century of our Republic, with the motivation we draw from our Century of Turkey Vision, we will continue to walk together, listen to you more, and act together, God willing. I wish for our November meeting of the Public Personnel Advisory Board, which we held with the theme of social dialogue, to be auspicious."

News Source: 12punto