TURKEY: Türk-İş lambasts social security reforms package, says retirement almost impossible

ANKARA, Turkey (Today's Zaman - Istandbul), March 3, 2008: Türk-İş, the Confederation of Turkish Labor Unions (Türk-İş) has expressed opposition to a social security reform package being discussed by the parliamentary Plan and Budget Commission, saying increasing minimum workdays for retirement from 7,000 to 9,000 is unacceptable. Türk-İş issued its opinions on some of the articles of the new social security bill yesterday. The new law will decrease pensions, worsen the process and conditions of retirement and render it almost impossible to retire, it said. Workers will lose a considerable amount of money from their pensions after retirement because the new law will bring about a reduction in multipliers used in calculating pension payments for those who are insured for the first time and for those who have been insured for less than 10 years. The "update multiplier" that is used to recalculate the basis of a pension payment every year to adapt it to changing conditions is currently deduced through a formula which includes "the annual consumer price index (CPI) plus 100 percent of the annual growth rate of the economy." "The new law envisages changing this to "the annual CPI plus 30 percent of the annual growth rate." The real hurdle to being able to retire would be a gradual increase of the minimum retirement age to 65 for those who are to be insured for the first time after the law is enacted, the confederation notes and opposes increasing the minimum days to work before being able to retire from 4,500 to 5,400 days. This means that a worker will not be able to retire from his or her job if his or her insurance premiums had not been paid for at least 5,400 days, regardless of whether they are 65 years old or older. These people will have to wait up to three more years before they are allowed to retire. Türk-İş also criticized cuts in nursing aid. The current law states that a woman will receive a payment worth one-third of the minimum wage for six months after she gives birth. The new law, on the other hand, says that a mother will be given the payment for nursing only once. Copyright by Feza Gazetecilik A.Ş