We have become the country of the minimum wage.

There are approximately 8 million people who earn the minimum wage in Turkey, but the average wages have also decreased over the years, becoming a neighbor of the minimum wage. TUIK labor cost statistics reveal that the gap between the minimum wage and the average wage has narrowed. In 2012, the gross minimum wage increased from 44 percent of the average gross wage to 53 percent in 2016 and 73 percent in 2020. In Turkey, which has one of the lowest minimum wages among European countries, nearly half of the active population has a minimum wage.

48.7 PERCENT OF LOW CHARGES

According to Eurofound’s 2022 report, only 4 percent of workers in European Union countries earn close to the minimum wage. In Turkey, the rate of employees with minimum wage and 10% more salary has reached 48.7 percent according to DİSK-AR research. DİSK President Arzu Çerkezoğlu, speaking to SÖZCÜ, pointed out that the minimum wage is not on the agenda anywhere in the world, noting that the ratio of salaried workers around the minimum wage has already exceeded 50 percent this year.

Emphasizing that the reason why the minimum wage becomes the average wage is the obstacles to unionization, Çerkezoğlu said: “The rate of employees with collective agreements is 7.5 percent in Turkey, while it is 5 .5 percent in the private sector”. Stressing that obstacles to unionization must be removed so that millions of people are not sentenced to the minimum wage, Çerkezoğlu said: “If we cannot achieve this, we will continue to be sentenced to wages that drop to the famine limit in the second month of the year “. year.”

Promotion regulation required for the private sector

Arzu Çerkezoğlu, regarding the promotion practice of banks, said: “There is a promotion practice in the public sector, but the amount should be increased. In the private sector, there is no binding regulation regarding promotional payment. The right to promotion is guaranteed in collectively agreed workplaces, but since the private sector is not unionized, employers get the promotion themselves or use it as a way to use cheap credit.” Çerkezoğlu said: “If we consider that almost 95 percent of the private sector does not have a collective agreement, a binding regulation must be made.”