Workers to get 2% back after govt cut
SOME 70,000 public sector workers and state pensioners will get back 2 per cent cut by the government from last month’s rise in the state cost-of-living allowance (cola) after judges ruled on Monday that ministers had acted wrongly.
The Constitutional Court backed trades unions who had challenged the cut — imposed by Cabinet decree to claw back over-payments following an error last year — saying only Parliament had the power to make such an order.
Now workers, pensioners and those on state benefits will be paid the missing 2 per cent, due to be paid in July but already been taken from their latest pay “cheque” ahead of Monday’s verdict.
However the union victory is likely to prove short-lived, as ministers vowed to reformulate the cut to comply with the law.
Lawyer Öncel Polili, acting for the Trades Union Platform which had lodged its case with the court on July 15, said only Parliament routinely had the authority to draw up such a law.
“There was no state of urgency that made the Council of Ministers issue such a decree. The Constitutional Court agreed with us,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the Platform, Ktams public sector union leader Güven Bengihan said: “We will continue to fight injustice and lawlessness. The Trades Union Platform is on the side of all walks of the society and we will also fight against the Turkey-TRNC financial protocol.”
Mr Bengihan said they expected the amount already cut — meaning pay, pensions and benefits to those affected went up by 5.57 per cent rather than the 7.57 per cent due from July — to be repaid within a month or two.
Finance Ministry undersecretary Özdemir Kalkanlı said work on refunds, as required by the court, was under way but he did not specify a date for payment.
Finance Minister Olgun Amcaoğlu said legal preparations to claw back the 2 per cent, overpaid because of a State Planning Organisation miscalculation of the last cola rise in December, would begin as soon as Parliament returned after the summer recess.
An angry Mr Amcaoğlu hit out at the unions, saying they were prioritising personal gain over communal interests and claiming their “reckless demands” would be the death of the country.
He said the government had lost 80 million TL from its budget because of the error and added: “Just as they would react to something that goes against them, people should also admit when something has been done wrongly, even though it is in their favour.
“More funds have to be allocated for investments, a mistake made in the past has to be rectified and the sustainability of the budget has to be ensured.”
The cola overpayment could have been channelled into completing construction of the new state hospital at Güzelyurt, eight 250pupil primary school buildings or the procurement of medicines, he said.
Mr Amcaoğlu underlined that the coalition had already slashed the budget deficit from 851 million TL to 530TL since coming to office in May and had introduced no prices rises except for dairy products — but this had gained no media attention.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kudret Özersay said the government respected the court’s ruling but maintained its stance. If the manner of their issuing the decree had been wrong, they were determined to “fit into the required modality” and enforce it with legislation via Parliament.