The eyes of millions on the minimum wage

Provisional negotiations have started for the minimum wage, which is decisive for average wages in Turkey and worries millions of employees. While the business world was demanding that the minimum wage, which was pronounced at $500 before the election, be made in TL, a calculation on 6-month inflation data was also pointed out. While negotiations are expected to be completed before the holiday, the correction will be made ahead of the 6-month inflation to be announced on July 5. In the case of a possible increase between 15 and 30 percent within the scope of the discussed scenarios, the net minimum wage, which is currently TL 8,506, will reach a level between TL 9,781 and TL 11,057.

65 PERCENT MINIMUM FEED

As of 2021, the rate of workers earning 10% more or less than the minimum wage is estimated to be 48.7%. This rate is around 64.7% for employees in the private sector. Vedat Bilgin, who was labor and social security minister before the new cabinet, pointed to a level of $500 in the minimum wage. “We will regulate the minimum wage in July so that real purchasing power is preserved. In January we made a deal that took it to the highest level of more than $455 in dollars in the history of the Republic. We will do the same in July. Explaining that it will be a fee of approximately 500 dollars, the former minister pointed out that the work was ready. When Vedat Bilgin made a statement of $500 on May 9, the dollar was at 19.55 lira and the minimum wage of 8,506 lira was equivalent to $435. $500 was about 9,780 lira. Today, considering that the dollar is at the limit of 24 TL, the minimum salary of 500 dollars corresponds to 12 thousand liras.

Emphasis on the crisis of worker representatives

– The Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Işıkhan did not attend the first meeting of the Commission for the Determination of the Minimum Wage organized by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security. The first meeting lasted about an hour. Veli Solak, the head of the Turk-Is delegation representing the working class after the meeting, said: “Our demand as Turk-Is is that this meeting ends as soon as possible, as befits the Turkey Century. We want our brothers working for the minimum wage to be updated according to the conditions of the day, according to the economic crisis, according to the rents of the houses, according to the cost of living. No figures were discussed, ”he said.

We have become the country of the minimum wage.

– While the negotiations were taking place, the President of the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions Arzu Çerkezoğlu, who pointed out that the minimum wage in Turkey is now an average wage, said that the share of labor in national income is at the lowest level in the history. of the Republic Çerkezoğlu said: “It is said that the Turkish economy is growing. All wages, not just the minimum wage, must have their share of this growth. The most important factor in determining the minimum wage is purchasing power. The minimum wage has become an average wage in Turkey,” he said.

The lowest salary of an official will be 22,000 TL

Along with the minimum wage, the first statement on civil servants and long-awaited pensions came from AKP Group Vice President Emin Akbaşoğlu. Noting that the first bill of the 28th period will be the proposal to set the lowest salary of civil servants at 22,000 TL, Akbaşoğlu said, “The first bill of the 28th period is the proposal to regulate the lowest salary of civil servants at 22,000 TL. thousand TL. A regulation will also be brought to the agenda, in which the salaries of retirees subject to SSK, Bağ-Kur and the Pension Fund will be considered together, both the inflation difference and the July social participation difference. This regulation will be the first activity of Parliament in the new legislature, ”he said.