diff --git a/Makefile.power b/Makefile.power
index 195f1930f..24d8aa8a7 100644
--- a/Makefile.power
+++ b/Makefile.power
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@ FCOMMON_OPT += -O2 -frecursive -mcpu=power8 -mtune=power8 -malign-power -fno-fas
 endif
 endif
 
+# workaround for C->FORTRAN ABI violation in LAPACKE
+ifeq ($(F_COMPILER), GFORTRAN)
+FCOMMON_OPT += -fno-optimize-sibling-calls
+endif
 
 FLAMEPATH	= $(HOME)/flame/lib
 
diff --git a/Makefile.system b/Makefile.system
index eb57cbb30..44eacda4b 100644
--- a/Makefile.system
+++ b/Makefile.system
@@ -763,6 +763,8 @@ CCOMMON_OPT += -DF_INTERFACE_GFORT
 FCOMMON_OPT += -Wall
 # make single-threaded LAPACK calls thread-safe #1847
 FCOMMON_OPT += -frecursive
+# work around ABI problem with passing single-character arguments
+FCOMMON_OPT += -fno-optimize-sibling-calls
 #Don't include -lgfortran, when NO_LAPACK=1 or lsbcc
 ifneq ($(NO_LAPACK), 1)
 EXTRALIB += -lgfortran