Net minimum wage $777

in News / on 23 Aralık 2014 at 18:19 /

Workers who organised rallies around the country demand minimum wage be raise to TL 1,800. ($777) DİSK has called on the government to increase the national minimum wage ahead of a possible change in the base pay of Turkish workers.

İstanbul, Şişli

Speaking in Istanbul’s rally as part of “Net minimum wage 1,800 TL ($777)” campaign, Kani Beko, President of DISK, said that Turkish workers do not have a wage which meets their basic needs. According to Beko, a new government program has proposed a 3 percent rise in the minimum wage in the first six months of the year and plus another 3 percent for the rest of the year. “This means a 1 TL ($0.43) increase,” claimed Beko.

The minimum wage in Turkey is 891 liras ($402) per month; the country’s unemployment rate was 10.5 percent in September. Beko accused the government of “social murder” by insisting on a minimum wage below the hunger threshold.

According to an OECD report on Income Inequality and Poverty in June, Turkey’s relative income poverty “increased significantly” between the global economic crisis and 2011. The Minimum Wage Board decides the base payment in Turkey; its next meeting will be on Thursday.