The Impact of the Turkish Statistical Institute on Wage Policies in Türkiye: An Evaluation of Trade Unions Using Collective Bargaining Agreement Samples
Naim GöktaşWorkers make up the vast majority of societies. Hence, wage policies are an important item on the agenda. This study examines wage policies implemented in Türkiye in recent years. Our findings reveal the main facts that stand out in our country’s wage policies. Moreover, the Turkish Statistical Institute’s dominant role in these policies has been evaluated. In addition, the increasing distrust toward the inflation measurements of the Turkish Statistical Institute and the concrete reasons for this distrust have been disclosed. After these assessments, the wage policies in the collective bargaining agreements were investigated. This study also used document analysis method and examined the articles regulating wage increases in the agreements. Accordingly, questions such as whether trade unions will be considered part of general wage policies or whether trade unions have constructed policies that can change current general wage policies were answered. Finally, the study emphasized that unions should introduce new methods in collective bargaining wage policies to protect the welfare of employees.
Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu’nun Türkiye’de Ücret Politikalarına Etkisi ve Toplu İş Sözleşmesi Örnekleri Üzerinden İşçi Sendikalarına Yönelik Bir Değerlendirme
Naim GöktaşToplumların büyük çoğunluğu hayatlarını devam ettirebilmek için emeklerini ücret karşılığı işverenlere satan işçilerden oluşur. Bu nedenle çalışanlara yönelik ücret politikaları, bireysel ve toplumsal sonuçları olan önemli bir gündem başlığıdır. Bu çalışmada ise Türkiye’de son yıllarda uygulanan ücret politikaları emeğin farklı kesimlerinin öznellikleri dikkate alınarak incelenmiştir. Bu inceleme sonucunda, ülkemizde uygulanan ücret politikalarında göze çarpan temel olgular açığa çıkarılmış ve bu politikalarda Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu’nun oynadığı başat rol değerlendirilmiştir. Ayrıca Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu’nun enflasyon ölçümlerine yönelik artan güvensizlik ve bu güvensizliğin somut nedenleri ortaya konulmuştur. Tüm bu değerlendirmeler sonrasında, Türkİş, Hak-İş ve DİSK üyesi sendikaların toplu iş sözleşmelerindeki ücret politikaları çalışmada araştırılmıştır. Bu araştırmada, doküman analizi yöntemi kullanılmış ve işçi sendikalarının toplu iş sözleşmesi belgelerindeki ücret zamlarını düzenleyen maddeler çalışmada mercek altına alınmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda, işçi sendikalarının Türkiye’de çalışma ilişkilerine hakim olan genel ücret politikalarının bir parçası olarak mı değerlendirileceği ya da sendikaların mevcut genel ücret politikalarını temsil ettikleri kitleler lehine değiştirebilecek politikalar mı inşa ettiği sorularına yanıt verilmiştir. Çalışmada son olarak sendikaların başta üyeleri olmak üzere çalışanların refah seviyesini koruyabilmesi için toplu iş sözleşmesi ücret politikalarında yeni yöntemler devreye sokmasının gerekliliği önemle vurgulanmıştır.
The vast majority of societies are made up of workers who sell their labor to employers in exchange for wages to survive. Wage policies affect more than just workers’ living conditions. These policies also have a direct impact on social welfare and peace. As a result, employee wage policies are an important topic of agenda with individual and social consequences. In this study, wage policies implemented in Türkiye in recent years were examined by considering the subjectivity of various segments of the labor force. Findings reveal the two main facts that stand out in our country’s wage policies. The first is that the minimum wage has become the average wage and that all wage levels have been trending downward. The second fact is that the Turkish Statistical Institute can use inflation measurements to determine wage policies, and these measurements have meaning beyond being a macroeconomic indicator. Furthermore, the study revealed the increasing distrust toward the inflation measurements of the Turkish Statistical Institute and the concrete reasons for this skepticism. The focus has been on the fact that the Turkish Statistical Institute has ceased to publish the item price list as of June 2022. This has fueled criticism of the Turkish Statistical Institute, which announced it continuously between January 2003 and May 3, 2022. The wage policies in the collective bargaining agreements of the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions, Hak-Is Trade Union Confederation, and Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey member trade unions were investigated in the study after all of these evaluations. This study used the document analysis method and examined the articles regulating wage increases in collective bargaining agreements concluded by 14 different unions that are members of three workers’ confederations in 7 different sectors. This research is unique because there is no study in the literature on the relationship between the collective bargaining policies of trade unions and general wage policies. Furthermore, the variety of collective bargaining agreements contributes to the enrichment of the work. Samples of collective bargaining agreements are those signed after June 3, 2022. This date was chosen because the Turkish Statistical Institute has not published the item price list since that date. Although there were criticisms of the Turkish Statistical Institute’s inflation measurements prior to this date, examining the agreement documents after the date when the Turkish Statistical Institute did not disclose the data that should have been shared with the public due to a court decision made it easier to find answers to the study’s basic questions. Additionally, this research revealed whether the trade unions take into account the justified concerns about the data of the Turkish Statistical Institute in the agreements signed after this date. Moreover, the findings determined whether trade unions will be considered a part of the general wage policies that dominate labor relations in Türkiye or whether trade unions have developed policies that can alter the current general wage policies in favor of the masses they represent. These questions were answered by the fact that trade unions are insufficient to protect their members’ economic welfare and can be defined as part of Türkiye’s current wage policies. Trade unions are in a bad situation because of collective bargaining policies that require them to organize a break from the prevailing general wage policies, which is in the best interests of their members and then all employees. Subsequently, this study emphasized that the unions should implement new methods in collective bargaining agreement wage policies to protect the welfare of employees, particularly their members. Galatasaray Sports Club used one of these new method examples in its sponsor agreement. Galatasaray Club signed a 5-year stadium naming rights agreement with a company. The sponsor agreement stated that after the second year of the agreement, the average inflation rates of the institutions of the Turkish Statistical Institute and the Inflation Research Group would be used to determine the sponsorship amount. Finally, the study suggested evaluating inflation calculations other than the measurements of the Turkish Statistical Institute as a method of wage increases, particularly in collective bargaining agreements in private sector workplaces.
