Türk-İş statement on interim wage hike: Citizens condemned to poverty...

Türk-İş Vice President and Koop-İş Union President Eyüp Alemdar stated that high income tax deductions are being made from the wages of millions of workers, noting that their primary agenda item for 2024 will be ensuring tax justice.

In a statement to AA, Alemdar said that the high inflation experienced in recent years has eroded workers' wages and reduced their purchasing power.

Explaining that as Türk-İş, they continue their efforts to protect and advance the rights of all workers, regardless of whether they are unionized or not, Alemdar recalled that in this context, they carried out significant work in 2023, including extending the working periods of temporary workers, signing collective bargaining agreements for public sector workers, and implementing an interim hike for the minimum wage.

THE ISSUE OF PERMANENT STAFFING

Stating that Türk-İş's signature is behind many achievements in working life, Alemdar spoke as follows:

"Subcontracted labor in the public sector was a significant problem. As unions, we fought a great battle to solve this issue. Thanks to this, more than 700 thousand subcontracted workers in the public sector were taken on as permanent staff. There was intense pressure for retirement on the workers who transitioned to permanent status; through our initiatives, we ensured the removal of the mandatory retirement practice. Furthermore, there were nearly 50 thousand workers in temporary status, mostly in the Ministry of National Education, who were employed for 10 months a year and left idle for 2 months. As a result of our intense and exhausting efforts, the working period for these workers was increased to 11 months and 29 days."

TAX JUSTICE

Türk-İş Vice President Eyüp Alemdar expressed that despite all the work and achievements, there are still significant problems in working life awaiting solutions, and that a busy agenda awaits them in 2024.

Pointing out that the priority issue that needs to be resolved in the new year is the high income tax deductions that workers are subjected to, Alemdar continued:

"Millions of workers are victims of a major income tax injustice. No matter how high a rate of increase we secure in collective bargaining agreements, the unjust tax system takes our gains away. While the tax base was 16.34 times the minimum wage in 2003, this ratio has fallen to 4.95 today. This situation causes workers to be crushed under a heavy tax burden. As TÜRK-İŞ, our primary agenda item in 2024 will be ensuring tax justice. Just as workers took a determined stance as a whole regarding severance pay and achieved results, they must display the same determined stance regarding tax justice and must reach a fair conclusion."