Memur-Sen President Yalçın: “The fact that retirees are not actively working should not mean that they do not have the right to unionize.”

The General President of the Confederation of Public Servants Unions (Memur-Sen), Ali Yalçın, stated that the fact that retirees are not actively working should not mean that they do not have the right to unionize. “When looking at both international and national regulations, there is no statement prohibiting retirees from forming unions,” he said.

A panel titled ‘The Right to Organize of Retired Public Employees’ was held by Memur-Sen, where judicial decisions, general legal principles, international norms, and country practices were discussed with the participation of expert academics within the framework of retirees’ right to union organization.

In his opening speech at the panel, Memur-Sen Confederation General President Ali Yalçın expressed his condolences to those who were martyred in the terrorist attack on TUSAŞ and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

Yalçın stated that there are a total of 16 million retirees in Turkey, including 2.5 million retired civil servants, and noted that retirees are facing very serious financial problems.

Yalçın mentioned that retired civil servants are affected by collective agreements; however, they cannot influence the collective agreements themselves and do not have the right to continue their membership in unions, calling this a significant distortion.

“The lack of a general increase for retirees causes them to lag behind by 15 thousand lira”

Yalçın pointed out that the general increase given to civil servants was not provided to retired civil servants, stating, “The 8,077 lira general increase given to public servants, which is tied to the additional indicator and increased each year, not being given to retirees causes them to lag behind by 15 thousand lira today. There is a problem in this regard. This problem needs to be resolved. All salaries of current public servants should be subjected to the retirement deduction as soon as possible to ensure that salaries do not decrease upon retirement, just as it is for workers,” he said.

“The fact that retirees are not actively working should not mean that they do not have the right to unionize”

Yalçın stated that retirees have no other options but to organize, saying, “The restriction in the law is not in accordance with the spirit of Article 51 of the Constitution, the regime for limiting fundamental rights and freedoms, the requirements of a democratic social order, and the principle of proportionality, nor is it in line with ILO Conventions No. 87, 98, and 151. The fact that retirees are not actively working should not mean that they do not have the right to unionize. When we look at both international and national regulations, there is no expression stating that retirees are prohibited from forming unions. If something is not prohibited, it is free,” he expressed.

Yasser Ahmed Hassan, the Director of the ILO Office in Turkey, stated in his speech that Memur-Sen is working on an important issue and emphasized that allowing people to spend their retirement with dignity is an important social value.

Following the opening speeches, a panel on ‘The Right to Organize of Retired Public Employees’ was held, moderated by Memur-Sen Vice President Ali Yıldız, with the participation of Prof. Dr. Alpay Hekimler, Çebi Buğdaycı, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Melike Özge, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Canan Erdoğan, and Dr. Esra Özen.