KESK: Turkey has become a country of minimum wages

The co-chair of the Confederation of Unions of Public Workers (KESK), Şükran Kaban Yeşil, said: “Income inequality is deepening. The richest 1 percent of society owns 41 percent of total wealth. As 99 percent, we share the remaining 59 percent. At the point we have reached, Turkey has become a minimum wage country, and labor’s share of national income has fallen to the lowest point in the last twenty years.

KESK co-chair Şükran Kaban Yeşil pointed to the unemployment and livelihood issues and stated that the current government shows a budget that seems to open its mouth on every election eve, saying: “Their goal is to turn the 2023 budget in an electoral investment to present it as a budget that will ‘open the mouth’ to the public. Hundreds of media mobilized for this objective are making it known every day that “in the new year there will be very high increases in the minimum wage, pensioners and civil servants.” We warn all segments and citizens who make a living here. We call on this game, which has been played dozens and hundreds of times, to stop this game,” he said.

“THE RICHEST 1 PERCENT OWN 41 PERCENT OF TOTAL WEALTH”

Stating that the reason why the market shelves are full is because our wallets are empty, Kaban said:

“The image we live in as 99 percent of the public is getting darker. From inflation to unemployment, from impoverishment to economic stagnation, the comprehensive crisis that has turned our lives into a nightmare is not coming to an end. We wake up every day with new walks.

In the rising cost of living, our wages and salaries are melting like candles. The country’s rulers are making speeches that ‘even in developed countries the shelves are empty, the world and even the developed Western countries are jealous of us.’ Yes, the market shelves in the country are full, but our wallets and pockets are empty. Now we wander through the markets as if we were visiting a museum.

Since everything on the shelves burns our hands, we look and look and leave. We could not meet our basic needs. Winter is at the door. Our natural gas and electric bill nightmare has started again. Unemployment has become chronic. The number of unemployed reached 8 million. Almost every household has an unemployed person. Unemployment affects women and young people more. Those who are lucky and have a job to work are expected to toil for a minimum wage below the poverty line.

One in two workers earns the minimum wage. The wages and salary of the other is getting closer each year to the minimum wage. One in four people cannot support their life without social assistance, even at a minimum. Income inequality is deepening. The richest 1 percent of society owns 41 percent of total wealth. As 99 percent, we share the remaining 59 percent. At this point, Turkey has become a minimum wage country, and labor’s share of national income has fallen to the lowest point in the last twenty years.