ANKARA - Turkish Labor & Social Security Minister Faruk Celik met representatives of labor and employer unions on Wednesday to discuss the social security bill.
"There are articles on which we have reached a compromise and some other articles on which we have to work more," he told reporters after their almost five-hour meeting in capital Ankara.
Celik said he will meet civil servants` unions on Thursday.
"We will meet at 3 p.m. again on Monday (March 24th) to make a final statement," he told.
On the other hand, Celik said the bill is ready and can be submitted to the Parliament General Assembly at any time.
"But, we will assess the issue (whether or not to submit it to the General Assembly next week) taking into consideration our meetings," he told.
On the other hand, Turkish Confederation of Labor (Turk-Is) Chairman Mustafa Kumlu said a technical team will work on the issues the unions have reached a compromise with the Ministry.
"We will assess the team`s report during a meeting of the Labor Platform on Monday, meet Minister Celik and then make our final decision," he told.
Also speaking to reporters, Tugrul Kudatgobilik, the chairman of the Executive Board of Turkish Confederation of Employers` Unions (TISK), said, "we hope everything will be on the right track.
"We also hope we can share with you a reform package that will pave the way for Turkey," he also said.
The bill gradually raises the retirement age of women and men to 65 (actually 58 and 60, respectively) and the number of days they have to work in order to retire from 7,000 to 9,000.
(BRC)