Metal industry employers and trade unions in Turkey, have finally agreed on a pay rise and social aid package following months of collective bargaining and a banned strike.
The Metal Industrialists Union (MESS) and the Turkish Metal Union (Türk Metal) agreed on a 24.63 percent pay rise on average after 12-hour talks that ended on Jan. 30.
“We restarted talks last night upon an invitation by the MESS administration,” said Türk Metal chairman Pevrul Kavlak, while announcing the deal, which will last two years.
“We have gained a more than 24 percent pay rise under conditions where the six-month inflation rate stands at 3.2 percent. This means we have gained a 20.8 percent surplus of welfare,” he said, naming the deal as the “contract of the century.”
The contract includes betterment in pay for work hours, in addition to an increase on equal basis and an improvement in seniority payments for workers employed for 15 years or more.
Kavlak said the improvement in social rights refers to a 23 percent increase, calculating new rights to health insurance and bereavement leave.
A strike of 130,000 workers at 179 workplaces across the metal sector in Turkey, including all major multinational companies, scheduled to begin on 2 February 2018, were banned by the Government on the grounds of being “prejudicial to national security”. (EVRENSEL DAILY)
Bülent Falakaoğlu
Hakkı Özdal
