Turkey's Civil Servants Union Calls for Abolition of Auxiliary Services Class

The Devlet Memurları Konfederasyonu (DMK) staged a protest in front of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, demanding the removal of the Yardımcı Hizmetler Sınıfı (auxiliary services class). General Secretary Tuncay Cengiz said the class, created in 1965, still treats about 140,000 workers as a separate, undefined group despite their varied qualifications and duties.

Cengiz highlighted that employees in the class perform 22 different jobs—ranging from cooks to technicians—without clear job descriptions, leading to arbitrary assignments by supervisors. He urged that a brief amendment to the upcoming omnibus law would be sufficient to reclassify these workers into positions that match their education and actual tasks, and to adjust their salary indicators accordingly. The protest concluded with participants symbolically hanging and cutting a net to end the demonstration.