12.06.2025 13:30
Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Cemil Tugay stated that they would lay off around 1,030 workers, pointing to the union as responsible for the process. Tugay said, "We will dismiss all relatives of union officials who were hired in the past. None of them will work in the municipality. Our people are asking this of me."
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Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Cemil Tugay made evaluations regarding the agenda. Tugay stated, "Today, we are starting the official procedure to part ways with around 1030 employees. If the Municipal Workers' Union continues to be uncooperative without considering the municipality and the public, and only thinking about their own livelihoods, then the responsibility for the friends who will be laid off from now on lies with the union. Not with us. The union is sacrificing a group of employees to continue high salaries for certain workers," he said.
Cemil Tugay summarized his statements as follows: "Currently, we have a total of 34,218 employees. About 28,000 of our employees are workers, and approximately 6,000 are civil servants. Whenever we talk about personnel costs, we have friends who mention other provinces. Since I took office, the entire management team has been making intense efforts regarding savings. We have been taking strict measures regarding unnecessary and luxury expenditures for a long time. Especially since the beginning of January, we have been continuing to work by saving on everything except for basic services and social assistance, without cutting them due to tax and social security deductions. This may be a subject of criticism; however, in July, our income from the treasury and the municipalities' bank was a figure of 3 billion 800 million. The salaries we will pay in July amount to 3.5 billion TL. 850 million will also be given to civil servants and permanent workers. This is the budget in its most bare form.
"WE ARE THE PUBLIC SIDE TRYING TO SERVE THE PEOPLE"
During the period of disagreement with the union, there are discussions like 'we are in a tug-of-war with each other, there are winners and losers in this job.' Some people told me that I won, but I don't see it that way. We are all on the same side. We are all the public side trying to serve the people. The unions also tried to fulfill their duties. They tried to defend the rights of the employees from their own perspective. Some of the comments made really upset me. I am not a mayor who has set out to take away the rights of our employees. I have infinite respect for their rights. I absolutely do not accept that this period of disagreement turns into hostility towards public employees. We all need our friends to work.
We have two separate unions in our different companies. The reason we could not agree in the previous term is not because the requested wages were low. It was a contract made by the previous president, five days before the election, which foresaw increases far above the realities of the day. They said they also want that increase. Their statements commonly included the phrase 'equal pay for equal work.' The reason for this was that employees affiliated with the other union were receiving high wages. We have been making intense efforts for the process not to reach this point for 6 months. We tried to explain to the General Business Union executives that we could not sign this figure and that if we did, we would not be able to bear the burden. In the meantime, we went separately to both the Izmir branch managers and the general president of the union. We said that the mentioned increases were excessively straining the municipal budget and that the demands of the other union representatives were leading us to disagreement. We said you must understand this situation. However, we did not receive a positive response from either the Izmir branch managers or their general president. We sought our rights through legal means, and the case is ongoing.
1030 WORKERS WILL BE LAID OFF
We filed a lawsuit stating that the increase signed before us was not suitable for the current conditions and needed to be updated. However, courts do not intervene in such matters. Therefore, I hope we will get the result we expect. We told the union representatives that if you do not correct this situation, we will have to part ways with some of your members. So far, no one has responded positively. We exercised our legal rights based on the relevant labor law. We notified them a month in advance, and the company boards made decisions. Today, we are starting the official procedure to part ways with around 1030 employees.
"THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR FRIENDS TO BE LAID OFF LIES WITH THE UNION"
If the Municipal Workers' Union continues to be uncooperative without considering the municipality and the public, and only thinking about their own livelihoods, then the responsibility for the friends who will be laid off from now on lies with the union. Not with us. The union is sacrificing a group of employees to continue high salaries for certain workers. Friends need to stop the abnormal wage increases and adopt a responsible attitude if they want to continue their jobs. If they do not do this, some of our employees will have to lose their jobs because of them. We will have to terminate the employment of some of our employees because we are left with no choice.
"THE UNION MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITY"
Currently, low salaries in institutions affiliated with the Municipal Workers' Union are around 80,000 TL. From September onwards, they will reach figures in the 130,000s. The employer's cost is currently 140,000, but after the raise, it will reach around 185,000. It is not possible for us as an institution to bear this. My colleagues and I are experiencing this process with great sadness. However, the union must take responsibility.
Yesterday, the president of the Municipal Workers' Union said, 'First, let them lay off the ATM workers.' As far as I know, there are no ATMs in the municipality. If there is someone I don't know, let them point it out, and I will remove it today. Such meaningless slander and qualified accusations cannot be made. They cannot escape responsibility like this. They cannot take salaries that are not paid in Turkey by victimizing other workers. This is the result of irresponsibility that was done five days before the election.
"WE WILL ESTABLISH A PUBLIC COMMITTEE"
The mayor will not interfere with anyone's hiring from now on. The hiring will be done based on the evaluation of our colleagues responsible for the department and the commission that will accompany them. I will establish a public committee that will oversee this process from behind the scenes. We will create a pool of people with experience in public service and human resources and announce it to our public. There will be a committee that we will select entirely by lottery, which will oversee the decisions made by the IzBB employment committee and report to me. If any mistakes are seen anywhere, I will intervene. We are starting such a period from now on. I hope this will serve as an example. Otherwise, we will not be able to escape from these mistakes. From now on, every expenditure made will be shared with the public.
"ALL RELATIVES OF UNION MANAGERS WILL BE LAID OFF"
We will lay off all relatives of union managers who were employed especially in the last term at Izmir Metropolitan Municipality. None of them will work in the municipality. Our public demands this from me.
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