Turkey: Government, state workers sign new labor deal

By Sinan Uslu and Aynur Ekiz

ANKARA (AA) - Public sector workers in Turkey will get a retroactive 7.5 percent pay raise in the first half of 2017 and 5 percent in the second half of the year from the government, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced on Monday.

Nearly 200,000 employees, including road services staff, will get a 3.5 percent hike in each half of 2018, Yildirim stated at the signing ceremony of a collective bargaining deal.

The government reached the deal with the public workers' union confederations Turk-Is, Hak-Is, TUHIS, and Kamu-Is.

Public workers whose gross monthly wage is below 3,000 Turkish liras will get a pay raise of 90 liras, Yildirim said.

“With this hike, the minimum wage of laborers will not be less than the minimum wage of public officials,” he added.