Gov’t, Türk-İş fail to agree

"Unfortunately, we could not conclude a contract," Mustafa Kumlu, chairman of the Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions, or Türk-İş, told reporters after his one-hour meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday. The government offered a 3 percent raise in wages for the first half of the first year of the collective bargaining term and 4 percent for the second half. The government also suggested a 5 percent rise for the second year. This year’s negotiations will cover around 300,000 employees working in state institutions.

Kumlu said the government’s proposal did not meet their expectations and that Türk-İş had requested an increase that would match the annual inflation of 2008, which was 10.06 percent in consumer prices.