MPs give their own Cola to lowest paid
MEMBERS of Parliament are to forgo the latest cost of living allowance (Cola) agreed for public servants, with the money going to some of the country’s lowest paid civil servants instead.
The Council of Ministers’ decision was revealed by Finance Minister Serdar Denktaş, who said the 12.11 per cent wage hike due to MPs would instead be given to 1,453 public sector employees with more than seven years’ service, who would get an extra 45-60TL for the rest of this year.
The anouncement — apparently contradicting a social media statement by Deputy Prime Minister Kudret Özersay that deputies would give their rise to charity — followed trades union criticism of MPs in March for accepting a 1,000TL cost of living rise on top of their 15,000TL-amonth salaries.
The move had a mixed reception among parliamentarians and politicians, and was criticised as a “show” that would do nothing to resolve underlying problems with salary structure.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday Mr Denktaş himself said he did not believe the decision was “right”, but was “a new practice that was being tried” in the face of “demands from the media, the opposition and the government”, and he hoped for a good outcome.
Despite apparent differences over the issue, however, he denied suggestions of any crisis within the fourparty coalition and said they aimed to maintain stability, while there was “nothing to be achieved by thinking that things will improve with a change of government”.
He warned that 2018 would be a difficult — “but not hopeless” — year due to problems caused by delays in parliamentary budget approval, elections in Turkey and the TRNC and fluctuations in foreign exchange rates. The latter and soaring living costs, meant the Prices Stability Fund, used to subsidise certain commodities to minimise rises for consumers, had started the year with a 73 million deficit but would end it 237 million TL in the red, he said.
Mr Denktaş’s reservations about the salary decision were echoed by MPs of the ruling parties — an alliance of the senior coalition partner Republican Turkish Party (CTP), People’s Party (HP), his own Democrat Party (DP) and the Social Democratic party (TDP).
Critics said the measure was not enough to address salary inequality, exacerbated by the system of awarding percentage rises which meant low-income staff received less and those on high incomes got more.
CTP İskele MP Biray Hamzaoğulları said the public sector salary system was “faulty” and had been designed in the past by toplevel officials in order to earn higher salaries. This decision on MPs salaries was no permanent solution, he said.
Gazimağusa MP Hasan Topal, of HP, said the move was not wrong, but neither was it sufficient, and such a temporary measure “would not help solve the country’s current economic problems”.
Opposition MPs criticised the government’s decision as “clumsy” and said the structural problems could be resolved by giving public sector workers a uniform rise of a certain amount instead of a percentage.
Girne deputy Özdemir Berova, of the opposition National Unity Party (UBP), was harshly critical of the government for “lousing up everything”, and singled out Dr Özersay for having said MPs were “donating” their allowance, saying it sounded like “giving alms to a beggar”.
Mr Berova also questioned the legal basis on which the allowance was to be withheld from MPs’ salaries.
THE Minimum Wage Commission met for the third time on Tuesday but failed to set a new private sector pay threshold. A fourth meeting was expected yesterday or on Monday.